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Title: Debris Threat to International Space Station; Crew Evacuating to Soyuz as Precaution
Source:
ScienceBlogs
URL Source: http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2 ... is_threat_to_international.php
Published: Mar 12, 2009
Author: ScienceBlogs
Post Date: 2009-03-12 12:45:51 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 59
Comments: 4
March 12, 2009 12:20 PM A moderately large piece of space debris has only recently been identified as a threat to the International Space Station - too recently for the station to be moved out of the way. The object is now projected to pass close enough to the ISS to put it into the high threat category. As a result, the astronauts onboard the ISS will be moving from the station into the Soyuz escape capsule as a safety precaution. The closest approach is predicted to occur at 11:39 CDT - about 20 minutes from now. The crew is currently preparing to board the Soyuz. If all goes well, they'll be in the Soyuz from 11:34-11:44 - the ten minute period that brackets the closest approach.
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#1. To: Brian S, update (#0)
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station took shelter inside their Russian-built Soyuz lifeboat Thursday when a piece of space debris zipped uncomfortably close by their orbiting laboratory. The three astronauts, two Americans and one Russian, moved into the station's attached Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft at 12:35 p.m. EDT (1635 GMT) as a safety precaution in case the debris - a spent satellite motor - slammed into the orbiting lab and breached its outer hull. Notice of the incoming debris came overnight, too late for flight controllers to plan a maneuver to fire the station's thrusters and put more space between it and the space trash, NASA officials said. But the debris apparently did not impact the $100 billion orbiting lab as it flew 220 miles (354 km) above Earth. "We're all happy the [debris] passed with no impact," NASA's Mission Control radioed up to the crew from the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. "That's great news." NASA spokesperson Brandi Dean at JSC told SPACE.com that the astronauts did not fully close the hatches between the Soyuz and the rest of the space station during the precaution, but they were prepared to do so if required. The satellite motor was expected to zoom past the station at a distance of about 2.4 miles (4 km). The astronauts would have had to take refuge within the Soyuz if the debris came within 3.7 miles (6 km), Dean said. Space station commander Michael Fincke and flight engineer Sandra Magnus, both of NASA, and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov told Mission Control that they could not see the space debris, but were glad it missed the space station. "Sandy kept her eyes out the Soyuz windows and we didn't see anything, of course," Fincke radioed down to Mission Control. "But we were wondering how close things were. We'd be interested in that." Space debris threat Dean said NASA flight controllers are refining their estimates to how close the debris came to the space station. The wayward satellite motor is an outdated PAN-D rocket engine that was once used to boost a satellite from low-Earth orbit a few hundred miles above Earth out to a geosynchronous position about 22,300 miles (36,000 km) above the planet. The space station has fired its Russian rocket engines to avoid space junk before, and astronauts have sought shelter in their attached Soyuz spacecraft - which doubles as a lifeboat in emergencies - at least once before, she added. "It has happened before," Dean said. The last time astronauts sought refuge from space debris in their Soyuz spacecraft was on Nov. 17, 2008, when the remains of an old SL-12 rocket flew within 12 miles (19 km) of the space station, according to the European Space Agency. That debris event also did not impact the space station. "The closure of the hatches ensures the safety of the crew and the ability to quickly depart the station in the unlikely event the debris collided with the station causing a depressurization," NASA officials said. "Moving the crew into the Soyuz is a precaution, as the probability of impact is low." The satellite motor made its closest pass by the space station at 12:39 p.m. EDT (1639 GMT). By 12:46 p.m. EDT (1646 GMT), Fincke and his fellow crewmates were given the all clear to reenter the space station. Space debris has been a growing threat for spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. NASA officials said the recent Feb. 10 collision between a Russian military satellite and a U.S. communications satellite has increased the risk of debris impacts during a space shuttle mission by about 6 percent. The unprecedented Feb. 10 collision occurred 490 miles (790 km) above Siberia and created two large clouds of debris in Earth orbit. Some of the debris particles are expected to start re-entering the Earth's atmosphere this week
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