Space junk safely passes International Space Station (ISS)
April 6th, 2011 - 5:34 pm ICT by BNO NewsINTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (BNO NEWS) — A piece of space junk passed the International Space Station (ISS) at a close distance on Tuesday afternoon but the crew did not have to take shelter, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on Wednesday.
A NASA spokesman said on early Tuesday afternoon that the agency was monitoring a small piece of space debris that was drifting towards the ISS. The debris is part of Chinese satellite FENGYUN 1C that was launched in 1999 and is about 6 inches (15.2 cm) in size.
NASA said it was initially considering whether or not the crew should take shelter inside the Russian Soyuz TMA-20 capsule that brought them up to the station in December. But Mission Control gave the crew the all-clear at 2.41 p.m. EDT as the space station orbited 220 miles (354 kilometers) above eastern Asia.
After the all-clear, the Expedition 27 crew - Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli - resumed a normal schedule and the debris made its closest pass at 4.21 p.m. EDT at a distance of 3.5 miles (6 kilometers).
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Tags: 1c, cady coleman, chinese satellite, close distance, early tuesday, eastern asia, fengyun, flight engineers, international space station, kondratyev, nasa, nasa spokesman, national aeronautics and space, national aeronautics and space administration, national aeronautics and space administration nasa, russian soyuz, space debris, space junk, space station iss, tuesday afternoon