spacetoday.net: ISS gyro fails

Posted: Wed, Mar 16, 2005, 6:29 PM ET (2329 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

A faulty circuit breaker caused a gyroscope on the International Space Station to shut down early Wednesday, although NASA officials said the problem will not affect activities on the orbiting outpost. The circuit breaker, known technically as a remote power controller, associated with gyro CMG-2 failed early Wednesday, causing a loss of power to the gyro. The cause of the circuit breaker failure was not immediately known. The gyro is one of four used to maintain attitude control on the station; one failed permanently in 2002. This gyro also suffered a circuit breaker failure last year, but the ISS crew was able to successfully replace it during a spacewalk later in the year. The two gyros are still sufficient to allow the station to operate normally, NASA officials said, although CBS News reported that without the third functioning gyro it may not be possible to reposition the shuttle Discovery with its robot arm should it be necessary to repair the vehicle when it arrives at the station on the first post-Columbia shuttle flight, scheduled for launch in mid-May.