OREANDA-NEWS. The abnormal activation of the engines of the module «Nauka» (can be translated as «Science») was caused by a personnel error, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said in an interview with CNN.

He blamed the mistake on the younger generation of operators who unsuccessfully made the docking. According to him, such connections had not been encountered for 21 years, and representatives of the older generation who were able to cope with such a complex docking retired. He stressed that we are talking about the human factor, since «the equipment does not break down by itself».

Earlier, the magazine of the state corporation Roscosmos «Russkiy Cosmos» (can be translated as «Russian Space») reported that the staff forgot to «put to sleep» the module by turning off the docking system. The necessary measures to disable the program were taken urgently. The head of the flight of the Russian segment of the International Space Station, Vladimir Solovyov, said that the cause of the incident was a software failure, and the executive director of Roscosmos pointed to an abnormal operation of the module's control system.