Update #2, 5:30 pm: NASA has now said that after further analysis, the space debris they have been tracking no longer poses any concern or threat to the ISS. Everyone can rest easy tonight! The piece of debris was only 5 cm long, and will not pass within the "pizza box" zone around the station (0.75 x 25 x 25 kilometers) that calls for an alert.
A hard-to-track piece of space junk may come within a half a kilometer of the International Space Station later today, and NASA managers are considering asking the crew to board the docked Soyuz capsules as a precaution. The time of closest approach is at 10:48 p.m. EST, and the object was detected too late for the station to do an evasive maneuver. Depending on the outcome of additional tracking data analysis, the crew may be awakened later and directed to go into the Soyuz vehicles around 10:30 pm or given the option to sleep in Soyuz tonight. NASA says they don't believe the crew is at risk, but precautions are prudent in dealing with space debris.
(...)
Read the rest of Space Junk May Force Crew from ISS (188 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. |
Permalink |
5 comments |
Add to
del.icio.us
Post tags: ISS
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
Full story at http://www.universetoday.com/2009/11/06/space-junk-may-force-crew-from-iss/
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment