This article is a list of accidents and incidents related to the International Space Station (ISS). It includes mishaps occurring on board the ISS, flights to and from the space station, as well as other program related incidents. Excluded from the list are routine actions such as repairs of minor malfunctions or debris avoidance maneuvers.
List
2001 November 28: Progress M1-7 cargo spacecraft failed to perform hard docking due to debris on the docking ring left by Progress M-45. During an unscheduled spacewalk on December 3 the foreign object was inspected and removed, finally allowing Progress M1-7 to complete the docking procedures.
2003 May 4: Soyuz TMA-1 switched to a ballistic reentry during descent, resulting in landing about from target. The crew inside the spacecraft experienced increased acceleration, still within limits even for untrained people. Technical commission concluded the cause to be incorrect behaviour of descent control system leading to yaw angle exceeding the limits, which triggered the switch to ballistic mode. As the time of publishing of this report, the performed simulations were unable to replicate this scenario, although design evaluations revealed a very unlikely combination of input signals could lead to underlying failures.
2004 February 27: Despite completing the main objective of VKD-9 spacewalk, it was terminated early due to a cooling system malfunction in Aleksandr Kaleri's spacesuit. A post-spacewalk inspection showed disruption of the cooling water flow caused by pinching of a coolant tube as the cause of the malfunction. Remaining planned activities were moved to a later spacewalk. June 24: VKD-9a spacewalk was cut short after the primary oxygen bottle in the spacesuit of Mike Fincke began losing pressure at a high rate almost immediately after exiting the hatch. Total length of the spacewalk was 14 minutes 22 seconds. The cause of malfunction was determined to be open oxygen flow switch that was not fully seated in normal flow position. In order to avoid such an incident, spacewalk procedures were updated with additional checks of valves' positions. The spacewalk was rescheduled to June 30. August 3: During Expedition 9 EVA-3 spacewalk, the ISS lost its attitude control and drifted 80 degrees off the nominal attitude. Resulting power conservation procedures lead to a loss of primary S-band communication between the astronauts and the ground crew. No personnel were inside the station at the time. In order to use the Service Module thrusters to regain correct attitude, the crew had to move away from it and only returned after realignment 45 minutes later. Due to this incident, mission control adjusted attitude control planning and power conservation measures for the future EVAs.
2005 July 28: Two gap fillers protruding between the shuttle's heat shield tiles were photographed during the Rendezvous pitch maneuver of STS-114 ahead of docking to the space station. On some of the previous missions, similar protrusions resulted in increased heating and tile damage. After careful considerations, NASA decided to remove those gap fillers during an upcoming spacewalk. The task was performed on EVA-3 on August 3 without issues. Additional spacewalk was considered to deal with a damaged thermal blanket near the shuttle cockpit window, but was ultimately determined as unnecessary based on analysis and wind tunnel tests.
2006 October 26: During docking of Progress M-58 orientation antenna failed to fully retract. The spacecraft physically connected to the station but mission control delayed hard docking by over 4 hours while working to reduce the risks of failed antenna hitting elements of Zvezda service module. To ensure it will not interfere during undocking, several attempts of retracting the antenna took place during two spacewalks of Expedition 14. After they failed, the supporting strut was cut, allowing partial retracting.
2007 June 8: During the launch of STS-117/13A a part of thermal insulation blanket on the orbiter orbital maneuvering system pod peeled off from adjacent thermal tiles. It was adjusted into position and stapled during the EVA-3 spacewalk on June 15. August 15: EVA-3 spacewalk of STS-118/13A.1 mission was terminated early after a hole was found in second layer of Rick Mastracchio's EMU glove during periodic inspection. The hole didn't lead to any leaks as spacesuit consists of five layers and termination was a precautionary measure. The hole was determined to be a cut caused by a sharp edge. October 21: Failure of Instrumentation/Propulsion Module commanded separation from the Descent Module of Soyuz TMA-10 during return to Earth resulted in ballistic reentry with higher loads on the crew than normal. The same issue will occur during the next Soyuz TMA landing.
2008 April 19: Landing of Soyuz TMA-11 was performed in ballistic mode, resulting in touchdown 420 km away from the nominal site. Later analysis showed the cause was separation failure between Instrumentation and Propulsion Module and Descent Module due to issues with pyro bolts that start the separation. The issue was similar to the previous Soyuz landing, but with higher g-force of almost 8.5g and lower separation altitude of . While the crew was initially reported to be healthy, spaceflight participant Yi So-Yeon was later hospitalized due to mild dislocation and bruising of vertebrae. NASA simulations showed that in the worst case such scenarios could lead to loss of crew due to failure of hatch or parachute cover. As a result, during Soyuz TMA-12’s stay on the ISS, an unplanned EVA was performed on July 10 to remove one of the pyro bolts from the spacecraft for inspection on the ground. Additionally, a software patch was introduced on TMA-12 to position the vehicle sideways for faster burn-through of the truss structure connecting the modules in case their separation fails in the future. Failure of the pyro bolts on the two flights was determined to be due to electromagnetic environment while in orbit. Design of the separation system was reworked accordingly. November 20: As EVA-2 spacewalk of STS-126/ULF2 was wrapping up, Shane Kimbrough's spacesuit sensors showed carbon dioxide buildup above safe limits. He was commanded to terminate his spacewalk and return to the airlock as a precaution. Kimbrough encountered increased CO2 levels on EVA-4 of the mission as well and took periodic rests to control it.
2009 March 12: Space station crew took shelter in their Soyuz due to a risk of collision with debris that was discovered too late for performing avoidance maneuvering. The piece of debris was a fragment of a spent US rocket stage. The distance to the station during the closest approach was around , after it passed the crewmembers returned to their regular work. As this was the first time such a procedure was executed, it caused disagreements between Moscow and Houston Mission Control on whether the hatches should be closed. After the event, the procedure was adjusted to close the hatches in case of other such emergencies. July 22: During EVA-3 spacewalk of STS-127/21A mission CO2 removal system in Chris Cassidy's spacesuit malfunctioned resulting in increasing carbon dioxide levels. Although the increased levels were still within the normal limits and Cassidy didn't experience any hypercapnia symptoms, the spacewalk was terminated early as a precaution. Due to termination, a battery pack was left in unintended configuration, requiring additional exercise restrictions to avoid unwanted vibrations until the next spacewalk.
2010 July 2: Docking of the Progress M-06M cargo spacecraft was aborted due to automated system issue. The failure was traced to TV transmitter of manual rendezvous system TORU interfering with the TORU itself, causing a loss of connection and abort command. Consequently, TORU was disabled on the next docking attempt on July 4 which was successful. September 23: Multiple unsuccessful attempts of undocking Soyuz TMA-18 due to issues with the docking system on the Poisk module. A sensor was reporting incorrect information preventing the docking latches to be released. After several hours of attempts, undocking was postponed to the next day, while the crew returned to the station. Electrical jumpers were installed to mimic the correct signal, which allowed undocking to be performed without problems on September 24. The issue was later traced back to a broken gear found during the troubleshooting efforts.
2011 June 28: An unknown piece of debris passed within of the station. As it was discovered too late to perform avoidance maneuvers, the crew had to board their Soyuz spacecraft as a precaution. As no collision took place, the crew was allowed to return to regular activities after the time of closest approach. August 24: Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft failed to reach orbit due to early shutdown of the third stage engines of Soyuz-U. At the time of the incident, Progress was the only operational ISS resupply spacecraft. Due to commonality between the third stages, Soyuz-FG, the only launch vehicle capable of carrying crew at the time, was also grounded, creating risk of having to leave ISS in uncrewed configuration. The failure was attributed to a human-caused blocking fuel line inside of RD-0110 engine. With a successful launch of Progress M-13M to the ISS on October 30, Soyuz-FG was cleared to launch crew again, which ultimately prevented de-crewing of the station.
2012 March 24: A piece of debris from a prior satellite collision was discovered too late to perform avoidance maneuvers, requiring space station crew to shelter in their Soyuz spacecraft as a precaution. The distance at closest approach was around , after which the crew continued their regular duties.
2013 March 1: Shortly after separation from the second stage, three of the four thrusters on CRS-2 Dragon cargo spacecraft failed to activate due to insufficient pressure in the tanks. The loss of attitude control also prevented solar arrays deployment, which was later commanded manually during the troubleshooting process. Cycling the valves for a "pressure slamming" effect cleared the blockage in pressurant lines bringing all the thrusters to operation without further issues later in the mission. A key orbital maneuver had to be rescheduled due to the long troubleshooting process, resulting in docking delayed by one day. July 16: 44 minutes into EVA-23 spacewalk ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano reported a large amount of water inside his helmet, minutes after a CO2 sensor failure. By the time Luca made it to the airlock, water was covering his eyes, nose and ears. The incident resulted in no injury but was later declared a high-visibility close call. The cause of the issue was determined to be contamination clogging a Fan Pump Separator, disrupting the water flow and leading it into the helmet. The issue had actually started on the previous spacewalk but was falsely attributed to a leaking drink bag and dismissed.
2014 March 25: Initial attempt of docking 6 hours after launch of Soyuz TMA-12M was cancelled after one of the scheduled burns didn't happen. Overperformance of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle, while still within limits, changed the requirements for the burn, requiring a switch to less powerful orientation thrusters instead of main engine. A possible software issue, together with incorrect orientation of the vehicle, resulted in burn not happening. Docking was rescheduled to a backup 2-day rendezvous process which worked without further issues. October 28: The Cygnus Orb-3 cargo spacecraft fails to orbit after its Antares rocket explodes. An uncontained failure in one of the rocket's NK-33 first stage engines caused the vehicle to collapse back on the launch pad, destroying the rocket, spacecraft, and cargo, as well as causing significant damage to the launch complex. No personnel were injured in the incident.