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10 times space missions went very wrong in 2024
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By Harry Baker published 19 hours ago
From astronauts getting stranded on a leaking ISS and faceplanting moon landers to injured Mars robots and a tumbling solar sail, here are 10 of
the biggest space exploration mishaps in 2024.
Artist impression of NASA's Voyager 1 probe traveling through
interstellar space.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Humans have been exploring space for almost 70 years. But if we thought
all that experience would make it any easier for us to venture beyond
our planet, then 2024 has put that idea to rest.
While there have been some major achievements in space exploration this
year, including China returning farside lunar samples to Earth for the
first time, a record-breaking student-made rocket and the first-ever
private spacewalk, there have also been some major blunders from NASA,
SpaceX and other organizations from across the globe.
From astronauts stranded on board a leaky space station and
crashlanding moon landers to a tumbling solar sail, here are 10 of the
biggest space mishaps of 2024.
Related: NASA delays historic Artemis missions — yet again
Astronauts stranded in space
The while Boeing Starliner crew capsule approaches a window on the International Space Station with Earth in the background
Boeing's faulty Starliner capsule returned to Earth from the ISS without
any passengers in September. (Image credit: ESA/NASA-S.Cristoforetti)
The most high-profile and long-running space mishap story in 2024 was
probably the saga of Boeing's leaky Starliner capsule, which stranded
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board the
International Space Station (ISS) in June.
The defective capsule, which had multiple issues, eventually returned to
Earth without passengers in September, after several delays as NASA
scrambled to find a solution. Some experts claimed that the astronauts
would have been perfectly safe on board the returning vessel. However,
this was disputed by other experts.
The pair were originally supposed to spend just a week in space, but by
the end of 2024 they will have spent 209 days on the ISS and are not
scheduled to return until at least March 2025.
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ISS leak and 'areas of concern'
An image of the international space station in orbit above Earth
A new report highlighted the dangers of a leak in the Russian section of
the ISS that has been ongoing since 2019. (Image credit: NASA via Getty
Images)
If Wilmore and Williams' time on board the ISS was not already dramatic
enough, in September, a new report highlighted the urgency of a
long-running leak aboard the space station and identified 50 additional
"areas of concern" related to it.
The leak was first identified in Russia's section of the ISS in 2019 and
has since spawned several other cracks in that part of the station. The
leak and resulting cracks have been temporarily treated with "sealant
and patches" but are still letting some air escape into space.
The new report warned that a permanent fix is needed to avoid a cascade
of other issues and a potential "catastrophic failure" in the next few
years. However, the Russian space agency Roscosmos disagrees about the
severity of the issue and is so far refusing to fix it, likely because
the ISS is scheduled to be demolished in 2030.
Florida house hit by space junk
The pallet and the batteries immediately after being jettisoned from the
ISS in 2021.
The space junk that hit the house was later confirmed to be the remains
of a pallet of batteries discarded in 2021. (Image credit: NASA/Mike
Hopkins via Twitter)
The final and potentially most alarming ISS mishap of note this year was
when a mysterious piece of space junk fell back to Earth in March and
crashed through the roof of a family house in Naples, Florida.
NASA later admitted that the falling debris, which was around 4 inches
(10 centimeters) across, was the charred remains of a pallet of
batteries ejected from the ISS in 2021. The debris was expected to
completely burn up in the atmosphere, but this did not happen.
In June, the house's owners filed a lawsuit against NASA, asking the
agency to pay up to $80,000 in damages. This case has not been resolved yet.
Moon lander fails
A wide-field photo taken from one of Odysseus' onboard cameras.
Intuitive Machine's Odysseus lander faceplanted on the lunar surface
shortly after this photo was taken on Feb. 22. (Image credit: Intuitive Machines)
While China's lunar samples return mission has been a huge success this
year, other agencies and private organizations have had less success in
sending spacecraft to the moon in 2024.
First, in January, Astrobiotic Technology's Peregrine spacecraft, which
was carrying the first private lunar lander to the moon, malfunctioned
shortly after takeoff and became stranded in space before eventually
falling back toward our planet and burning up in our atmosphere. This
launch had already been heavily criticized before takeoff because the spacecraft was attempting to carry human remains to the moon.
Later the same month, Japan successfully launched and landed its Smart
Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM), also known as the "moon
sniper" thanks to its incredibly accurate navigation system. However,
the spacecraft didn't live up to its nickname and ended up landing
upside down. Despite this, the lander managed to survive for several
months despite its solar panels being pointed at the ground.
In February, another private lander, Odysseus, completed its trip to the
moon and became the first U.S. spacecraft to touch down on the lunar
surface in more than 50 years. However, the spacecraft, built by
Intuitive Machines, also didn't quite stick the landing and ended up faceplanting in the dust, shortly before succumbing to the bitter cold
of the lunar night.
Tumbling solar sail
An artist's interpretation of a shiny silver solar sail in space above Earth
NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) finally unfurled its
massive foil sail on Aug. 26. But things didn't go to plan. (Image
credit: NASA)
In August, attention turned to NASA's new Advanced Composite Solar Sail
System (ACS3), which finally unfurled its massive 860-square-foot (80
square meters) foil sail after launching into space in April. However,
the big reveal didn't exactly go to plan.
Live Science was the first outlet to report that initial observations
suggested the solar sail was uncontrollably tumbling end over end in
orbit around Earth, which was later confirmed by the first photos of the
giant silver sail. However, mission scientists claimed this had been
expected and said the issue would be resolved shortly.
But in October, Live Science's sister site Space.com revealed that the
main boom holding ACS3's sail had bent and the spacecraft was still
tumbling. It is unclear if this problem has been rectified.
Mars robots take a hit
Two side by side images of damage to the Ingenuity helicopter and
Curiosity rover
Mars robots took some serious hits this year, including fatal rotor
blade to the Ingenuity helicopter (left) and a massive hole in one the Curiosity rover's wheels (right). (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech (left)
and NASA/MAHLI (right))
In January, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter ended its roughly three-year
mission after sustaining fatal damage in a crash landing during its 72nd
flight on the Red Planet. Subsequent photos revealed a large section was missing from one of the flying robot's rotor blades, damage which cannot
be repaired.
The helicopter is still technically operational and could have a second
life as a weather station over the next few decades. But astronauts
might need to go to Mars to retrieve any of the data it collects.
NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been tirelessly surveying Mars for
more than 12 years, also sustained some serious damage this year.
Images released in September show a series of holes in the rover's
middle right wheel, including a gaping tear that exposes the inner
mechanisms of the wheel's drum. However, the rover shows no immediate
signs of being slowed down by its injuries and is currently en route to
explore mysterious Martian "spiderwebs."
Multiple Voyager issues
Artist impression of NASA's Voyager 1 probe traveling through
interstellar space.
The Voyager probes are currently flying through interstellar space
beyond the solar system. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
After more than 90 combined years of relatively smooth sailing through
the solar system, and now interstellar space, NASA's historic Voyager
probes experienced some pretty major issues in 2024.
Voyager 1, which launched in 1977 just a few weeks after Voyager 2, has
had the most eventful year of the two probes. The craft spent the first
few months of the year transmitting "gibberish” signals. NASA identified
the problem and implemented a temporary fix in March when the probe was
a staggering 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth. But
the problem partially persisted until the agency eventually restored
full communication in June.
Then, in September, the probe performed a risky maneuver to start
relying on different thrusters, after its main propulsion system
suddenly went offline. And in October, NASA temporarily lost contact
with the probe again when its main radio transmitter broke and it had to
switch to a backup.
Voyager 2 had a quieter year but also experienced some setbacks,
including having to shut off one of its long-running scientific
instruments to conserve its dwindling power levels.
Falcon 9 rockets grounded (3 times)
Falcon 9 rocket launch
SpaceX launched a record number of Falcon 9 rockets in 2024. (Image
credit: SpaceX/Flickr)
SpaceX's iconic Falcon 9 rockets have shattered records in 2024,
launching more than 120 times this year — mostly to deploy the company's ever-expanding Starlink megaconstellation.
However, these launches have not always been plain sailing. The rocket
was temporarily grounded three times in three consecutive months this
year as federal agencies investigated various malfunctions with the
spacecraft.
The first grounding occurred in July when 20 Starlink satellites
unexpectedly fell to Earth after being prematurely released into
low-Earth orbit by their rocket. The second temporary ban came into
effect in August when one of the rocket's reusable boosters exploded
during a routine landing. And the third no-flight order came in
September when another rocket crashed back to Earth in the wrong part of
the ocean.
Starship lost (and blowing holes in the atmosphere)
A photo of starship launching in the distance with massive plume of smoke
SpaceX's Starship is the most powerful rocket ever launched by humans.
(Image credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
While Falcon 9 has been busy in 2024, SpaceX's superheavy Starship
rocket has often overshadowed its smaller relative with multiple
high-profile launches this year — and the first successful recovery of
one of its boosters, which was caught with chopstick-like pincers.
However, the larger rocket has also run into a few problems this year,
most noticeably when it was lost in the Indian Ocean in March, shortly
after making it into orbit around Earth for the first time. The
spacecraft was misplaced after a communication error prevented SpaceX
from tracking its reentry.
This year it was also revealed that Starship's second-ever launch, which happened in 2023, triggered a first-of-its-kind atmospheric hole when
the rocket exploded shortly after liftoff.
Shattering spacecraft
photo showing several bright objects outlined by red boxes, standing out against a starry black sky
A Chinese rocket unexpectedly exploded into more than 300 pieces in
August after deploying the country's first "Thousand Sails" satellites.
(Image credit: Slingshot Aerospace)
As the space around Earth becomes increasingly crowded, the potential
for things to go wrong — and the potential fallout from these disasters
— also increases. And 2024 gave us several reminders of this.
First, in June, ISS astronauts had to temporarily shelter in their
return capsules — including Boeing's leaky Starliner pod — when Russia's Resurs-P1 satellite suddenly broke into more than 100 pieces near the
space station.
Then in August, a Chinese rocket exploded into more than 300 pieces
after deploying the first of the country's "Thousand Sails" satellite constellation in space. It is still unclear exactly what went wrong.
However, astronomers are concerned about how extremely bright the new satellites are.
And in October, the Boeing-made satellite Intelsat 33e suddenly
shattered into more than 20 pieces without warning. Scientists are still
trying to figure out what happened.
There was also a close call in February when a NASA probe and a Russian communication satellite narrowly avoided colliding with one another,
which could have ended up being even more destructive than the examples
above.
Harry Baker
Harry Baker
Senior Staff Writer
Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied
marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space
exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal
behavior and paleontology. His recent work on the solar maximum won
"best space submission" at the 2024 Aerospace Media Awards and was
shortlisted in the "top scoop" category at the NCTJ Awards for
Excellence in 2023. He also writes Live Science's weekly Earth from
space series.
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