Science News Roundup: International Space Station thrown out of control by misfire of Russian module -NASA; Russia blames software glitch after space station briefly thrown out of control and more

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said it "denied the protest arguments that NASA acted improperly in making a single award to SpaceX."

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

International Space Station thrown out of control by misfire of Russian module -NASA

The International Space Station (ISS) was thrown briefly out of control on Thursday when jet thrusters of a newly arrived Russian research module inadvertently fired a few hours after it was docked to the orbiting outpost, NASA officials said. The seven crew members aboard - two Russian cosmonauts, three NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut, and a European space agency astronaut from France - were never in any immediate danger, according to NASA and Russian state-owned news agency RIA.

Russia blames software glitch after space station briefly thrown out of control

A software glitch, and a possible lapse in human attention, were to blame for throwing the International Space Station out of control, but work was proceeding to activate a newly attached module at the center of the mishap, Russian space officials said on Friday. Jet thrusters on the Russian research module Nauka inadvertently reignited on Thursday a few hours after it had docked to the space station, causing the entire orbital outpost to pitch out of its normal flight position some 250 miles above the Earth with seven crew members aboard.

U.S. watchdog rejects Blue Origin protest over NASA lunar contract

A U.S. government watchdog on Friday sided with NASA over its decision to pick a single lunar lander provider, rejecting a protest filed by Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics Inc. The companies had challenged the $2.9 billion award to Elon Musk's SpaceX for the lander, arguing NASA was required to make multiple awards. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said it "denied the protest arguments that NASA acted improperly in making a single award to SpaceX."

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