NASA sets fire inside its spacecraft—on purpose

Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo craft is released by the International Space Station. (credit: NASA)

There are many hazards in spaceflight, but one of the greatest is a fire inside a spacecraft filled with oxygen. Therefore the experiments NASA has conducted to date with fire in microgravity have been small and very well-controlled.

But with its new Saffire experiment NASA decided to go a little bigger. Scientists at Glenn Research Center and 10 other U.S. and international government agencies and universities built a 1-meter by 1.3-meter long module, and placed a 1-meter long cotton-fiber sample inside to burn. Although this burn would be controlled, it was still too risky to conduct the experiment aboard the International Space Station. So when the Cygnus cargo spacecraft departed from the station on Tuesday, the experiment was placed inside.

Shortly after the spacecraft's departure the fire was ignited, and it burned for about eight minutes. NASA released the video on Thursday night of the fire:

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