The crew of the worldwide Space Station was forced to take shelter in a Soyuz capsule due to the close approach of a piece of Russian space debris.
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‘All station systems are operating normally and the crew will move out of the Soyuz spacecraft in which they stayed during the debris pass.’. Thankfully, the chunk of old Russian weather satellite passed by without smashing the multi-billion-dollar station to smithereens – but it was clearly large enough to cause NASA concern. Flying debris from a Russian craft came just within a few kilometers, which is really small for space, of the ISS.
But on Thursday, the crew only had 90 minutes notice to avoid the supersonically travelling debris.
Those who have watched Gravity can understand the extreme dangers space junk can pose to any missions in space, and that, yes, they can happen all the time. They did not need to put on their Soyuz flight suits, and there was no rush, said NASA spokesman Dan Huot. Russian cosmonauts are Mikhail Kornienko, Anton Shkaplerov and Gennady Padalka.
The crew will open the hatches between the Soyuz and the station around 12:25 a.m. Thursday, July 23.
The ISS does have the ability to maneuver out of the way of orbital debris using its thrusters, but it’s an expensive process – including delivery charges the fuel costs almost $10,000 per pound. These items are at least 4 inches across.
Space debris remains one of the biggest threats to the ISS, other satellites and spacecraft.
Fortunately the remnant of the weather satellite made a close pass by.
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Kelly and Kornienko are in the fourth month of a yearlong deployment on the ISS to help space experts anticipate some of the issues that would arise in a human mission to Mars.
