Red Alert: Space junk almost hits Space Station

William Atkins
Saturday, 14 March 2009 04:13

Science - Space

Specifically, the three space travelers only had about one hour to secure themselves into the Soyuz capsule before the space debris was due to speed by the Space Station.

Luckily, the space debris did not hit the Space Station, but only made a near-miss.

If the piece of space junk had hit the Space Station, the collision would have likely caused loss of air pressure inside their living quarters when it would have most likely punctured the wall of their habitat.

According to the Associated Press article “Space station's close call with junk: More to come,” Dr. Mark Matney, a NASA scientist with a background in space debris, was reported to have said, "We were watching it with bated breath. We didn't know what was going to happen."
 
Commander Mike Fincke said, at about the time when the space pieces were supposed to make its closest approach, "We didn't see anything of course. We were wondering how close we were.”

According to the AP article, the U.S. Space Command tracks 13,943 orbiting objects that are four inches or larger in size.

Other incidents of MMOD space debris have caused damage to NASA vehicles.

For instance, NASA mission STS-115, in September 2006, was at the center of a space debris incident when space junk hit the right hand payload bay door radiator of the space shuttle Atlantis. Information is found at”Micrometeoroid Orbital Debris Impact on Atlantis.”

For additional information on the debris incident on March 12, 2009 around the International Space station, please go to the NASASpaceFlight.com article, “RED threshold late notice conjunction threat misses ISS - Crew egress Soyuz.”