NASA's International Space Station faces power outage, SpaceX cargo launch delayed

On 29 April, NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) faced a power outage in the Main Bus Switching Units (MBSU) that distributes power to two of the eight power channels on the station. On 1 May, SpaceX Dragon craft filled with 5,500 pounds (almost 2,500 kg) cargo was supposed to launch to meet the crew in the ISS. However, due to the power failure, the launch has been postponed. NASA tweeted out about the incident saying that they requested SpaceX to move off from the May 1 launch of their 17th commercial resupply mission to the Space Station while the teams work on the station’s power system. Now, they are exploring a launch opportunity no earlier than 3 May. [caption id=“attachment_6553061” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] The International Space Station. Image credit: Wikipedia[/caption]

The crew is working on getting the problem solved robotically that saves them from a spacewalk. All the crew are safe for now. The SpaceX Dragon craft is capable of carrying both human beings as well as cargo, and it is a free-flying spacecraft.

On 22 April, the Dragon spacecraft faced an “anomaly”  during engine tests. SpaceX remained mum while NASA released a statement saying that they were made aware of the incident.