How the space station flipped out of control--and why that's a big problem

The International Space Station flipped over on its back on July 29. This was a significant, though fortunately not disastrous, nearly one-hour episode for humanity's largest and oldest space outpost. The station slowly turned over one and a half times. (Or as NASA describes it, the space station experienced a "total attitude change" of around 540 degrees, with "attitude" being jargon for a spacecraft's orientation.) The new Russian module "Nauka" had docked to the sizeable 356-foot-long station...