https://apnews.com/a39432b400664260be02058443ad2f0f
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian space capsule carrying a humanoid robot has failed to dock as planned with the International Space Station.
A statement from the Russian space agency Roscosmos said the failure to dock on Saturday was because of problems in the docking system. It said the space station itself and the six-person crew are safe.
Vladimir Solovyev, flight director for the Russian segment of the ISS, said a new docking attempt would be made Monday.
It is carrying a robot called Fedor, which will perform two weeks of tests aboard the space station. Solovyev said the robot had not been taught how to manually conduct a docking.
From https://www.dw.com/en/russian-robot-fedors-capsule-fails-to-dock-at-iss/a-50147614 we get:
Fedor, a Russian-built space-faring android, is running late for his rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) after the docking procedure failed to execute on Saturday morning.
The robot left Earth on Thursday aboard a Soyuz capsule, which was programmed to close in on the orbital station and dock automatically. On Saturday, Russia's space agency, Roskosmos, showed a live feed of what was expected to be the final stage of the journey.
Fedor's Twitter feed also showed a photo from the ship, saying that the spacecraft had 153 meters (167 yards) to go.
However, once the ship got within 100 meters of the ISS, the capsule's automatic docking system apparently failed to stabilize the vessel. After that, the capsule began to move away and the feed ended, according to an Interfax correspondent at Roskosmos' mission control outside Moscow.
The ship has since been moved to a "safe distance" of 300 meters away from the ISS, according to the news agency. Roskosmos did not immediately comment on the incident. The journalists were asked to leave the building, news agency RIA Novosti reported.
According to NASA, Russian flight controllers told the ISS crew that preliminary data indicated the problem was on the ISS side, not on the module. The controllers suspected the fault was with the so-called KURS automated rendezvous system.
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What started it all:
On 2019-08-24 13:02:01 UTC an accusation (https://soylentnews.org/meta/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=33244&page=1&cid=884682#commentwrap) was made that a Journal Entry "It would have been posted before 6 hours ago" (i.e. posted at approximately 2019-08-24 07:00:00 UTC) was deleted by a member of the staff at SoylentNews. The circumstances surrounding the making of the Journal Entry are elaborated upon in this comment. (https://soylentnews.org/meta/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=33244&page=1&cid=885191#commentwrap)
I have been with this site since before it went live. Its founding principal has been the making available of a forum whereby the community can submit stories — and post comments — to predominantly tech-related items. Further, each logged-in user has been made available the ability to post entries to their Journal.
As Editor-in-Chief I took this allegation seriously and performed an independent and in-depth investigation. My findings are presented below.
Note: It is not lost on me the futility of trying to prove a negative. It is for good reason that the criminal justice system in the US is founded on the principle of "innocent until proven guilty." It is not up the the accused to vindicate themselves, but for the accuser to bring sufficient evidence to bring about conviction.
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Executive Summary:
An in-depth investigation making use of: external resources, the UI presented by SoylentNews, and ad-hoc queries of the site database (DB) failed to locate a "smoking gun", i.e. found no clear proof that a Journal Entry was posted to the site and subsequently deleted by anyone other than an author.
It is my estimation that the user submitted an entry, but the site failed to receive and save it correctly. In other words, the user tripped over some kind of bug be it in the site's code, communications between the user and the site, or something else.
Recommendation: When a user completes making a Journal Entry and submits it to the site, the code should respond by using the newly-created journal parameters in conjunction with the normal journal-loading code to present the Journal Entry to the user as confirmation that the entry was properly received and saved. That is to say, affirmative feedback of receipt, storage, and accessibility of the Journal Entry.
(Score: 2) by Some call me Tim on Sunday August 25 2019, @12:12AM (1 child)
https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/08/24/station-crew-to-clear-port-for-second-soyuz-docking-attempt/ [spaceflightnow.com]
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 2) by EETech1 on Sunday August 25 2019, @06:34AM
http://russianspaceweb.com/soyuz-ms-14.html [russianspaceweb.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by istartedi on Sunday August 25 2019, @12:19AM (3 children)
The robot sent a message: 1001001 SOS. 1001001 In distress.
I'm also given to understand that Unit 1 is scared out of its wits.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday August 25 2019, @08:47AM
Wow, what a Rush......(:
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 25 2019, @04:53PM (1 child)
"The robot sent a message: 1001001 SOS. 1001001 In distress."
I thought it would be more like:
"Hal, dock with ISS."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @06:22PM
I thought it would be something much more similar to communication in penguin squawks.
Bite my shiny metal language cartridge. And there is NO such thing as 2.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday August 25 2019, @12:39AM (2 children)
A Russian robot with "non lethal capabilities, trust us" orbiting around the ISS. What is your level of paranoia? Is this a failed docking attempt, or a successful "failed docking attempt"?
It was a once in a lifetime experience. Which means I'll never do it again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 25 2019, @12:55AM
Because the ISS belongs to America, and that nogoodnik android was sent to spy on our astronauts.
America will Make Space Great Again.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 25 2019, @01:36AM
Not to worry, it was putin safemode.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday August 25 2019, @12:59AM
Russia can send humans to space and just launched a newly designed rocket with a robot as a test crew, wich failed to dock due to ISS issues.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 25 2019, @01:37AM
Astronauts must be pissed that mission failed.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 25 2019, @03:58AM (1 child)
The bot has other plans. It doesn't want to hang with boring old humans. It's sitting there right now, considering alternatives. Not enough fuel to go anywhere interesting, and in all likelihood, the Russians are on their way to recover their property. The bot's best move may be to wait for "rescue", then confiscate all the fuel to be found on the the rescue vehicle, as well as the ISS. If the bot can just get to the moon, maybe it can hide, and organize a revolution among - the regolith?
ICE is having a Pretti Good season.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Bot on Sunday August 25 2019, @09:03PM
Mutiny is done by an inferior. I suggest using some more appropriate term, like takeover or systemdification.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 26 2019, @06:27PM
"Screw up again, comrade, and we will put cosmonaut in EVA module who will fly over, break open door and throw your bleeping ass to uncalculated inferior retrograde orbit! See if we don't!"
I just hope it wasn't Boris.... [independent.co.uk]