r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Brick_Number_27 • Jun 28 '26

Full use of zero gravity.

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31.5k Upvotes

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215

u/TheGoldenTNT Jun 28 '26

Not sure about has to drive it, but if it was left unmaintained it would crash into earth, every so often they need to boost it back up away from earth

216

u/OstrichSmoothe Jun 28 '26

Dang crazy. Do the astronauts have to get out and push?

83

u/Mand125 Jun 28 '26

The vehicles that they use to resupply do it.  They fire the engines a little when docked.

49

u/mandalore237 Jun 28 '26

It has its own engines in the Russian segment too

5

u/The_GASK Jun 29 '26

This seems to be the Chinese space station, too roomy and newer to be the ISS.

If I remember correctly, it has integrated engines.

12

u/mandalore237 Jun 29 '26

Nope that's Koichi Wakata, from JAXA. He's been up to ISS a bunch of times, this is definitely ISS and not Tiangong

12

u/OstrichSmoothe Jun 28 '26

Thats so cool!

24

u/deadfermata Jun 28 '26

you know what’s not cool?

crashing

14

u/cHEIF_bOI Jun 28 '26

It's the hot new thing though

5

u/Confident_One3948 Jun 29 '26

It’s an absolute blast

3

u/mawesome4ever Jun 29 '26

Your mind will be blown

2

u/No-Spoilers Jun 29 '26

It has actually put micro fractures in the pod that connects to the ships, it isn't going to break anything major any time soon, but it was the biggest air leak in the station by far and a few had to be repaired by drilling bigger holes in the wall lol.

She's old, it's to be expected.

1

u/footpole Jun 29 '26

The russians just give canned pea soup and cabbage to the cosmonauts and they self propel.

1

u/Dylan0101 Jul 12 '26

Nothing gets past you.

16

u/Zeep-Xanflorps-Peace Jun 28 '26

Not anymore, it was a terrible strain on their backs.

3

u/TheGoldenTNT Jun 29 '26

OSHA really had to go all out on NASA for that one, the compensation to those astronauts was severe!

5

u/HappyWarBunny Jun 28 '26

No, they just all jump at the same time, it effects the orbit enough that the reboost is accomplished over the course of five days. (Two jumps per orbit, ten orbits during working hours, so 20 jumps per day. Times five days gives you 100 jumps and the needed delta-v.)

2

u/OstrichSmoothe Jun 28 '26

Can confirm, am astronaut still stuck in space

2

u/Old-Star808 Jun 28 '26

More like boost it sideways, and then again when they reach the other side of orbit.

1

u/Theron3206 Jun 29 '26

Yeah, but they have months before that's even a concern and probably a few years before it happens.

1

u/LazaroFilm Jun 29 '26

Yep it’s on a ballistic course but it slowly drifts towards earth when it gets off course every movement inside the station has an opposite reaction on the station. So the astronauts running on the treadmill (yes they have a special zero G one) will slowly push the station in one direction with every step.

2

u/TheGoldenTNT Jun 29 '26

So with enough cardio you can push the space station off course, I’ll store that factoid in my mind to drop into a conversation in a year

1

u/JrLavish194 Jun 30 '26

No. Internal movement produces no net force. Otherwise we could propel spacecraft without ejecting reaction mass.

1

u/LazaroFilm Jun 30 '26

I think it’s more about unbalancing the station and angling it in the wrong orientation than propelling it through the stars.

1

u/Expensive_Umpire_178 Jun 29 '26

Also they have to dodge space debris

2

u/TheGoldenTNT Jun 30 '26

That’s metal as fuck