Nov 8 2000
From The Space Library
An eruption of solar-flare activity prompted NASA to order the ISS crew to take shelter in the Russian-built Zvezda module for 12 hours. The federal Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado, rated the solar-flare event an S-4, making it the fourth-largest solar-radiation storm since 1976. NASA calculated that the ISS would travel through danger zones during the seven or eight orbits of a 12-hour period on 9 November. Officials advised the crew to activate radiation-detection monitors in Zvezda's living quarters and to remain in the aft section of the module during working hours, except for two periods of 15 to 20 minutes during each 90-minute orbit, when they could safely move around the cabin. Michael J. Golightly, Chief of Space Science at Johnson Space Center (JSC), explained that the Zvezda module had a shield heavy enough to reduce the crew's radiation exposure by 60 percent.
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