Debris Gives Space Station Crew Members a 29,000-M.P.H. Close Call

[Gerald]

Crew members on the space station took steps Tuesday to prepare for an emergency evacuation.

One of the hundreds of thousands of pieces of space-age litter orbiting Earth zipped uncomfortably close to the International Space Station on Tuesday.

The six crew members of the space station took refuge in their “lifeboats” — two Soyuz space capsules they would use to escape a crippled station — as the unidentified object hurtled past them at a speed of 29,000 miles per hour, missing the space station by only 1,100 feet. The episode took place at 8:08 a.m. Eastern time.

“We believe the probability that it would the hit the station was about 1 in 360,” said Lark Howorth, who leads the team at NASA that tracks the space station’s trajectory. NASA rules call for precautions when the risk of impact is greater than 1 in 10,000.

In the section of the station run by the United States, astronauts closed the hatches in case the debris — commonly known as space junk — crashed through, to limit the danger of explosive decompression. To prepare for a rapid departure, the clamps holding the Soyuz capsules to the station were released.

“They would be one command away from releasing the hooks and undocking,” said Edward Van Cise, NASA’s lead flight director.

Mission controllers gave the all-clear signal four minutes later, and the crew members returned to work. There was no sign of damage or impact to the station.

It was only the second time in the 10-year history of people living on the space station that the crew needed to take such precautions; on March 12, 2009, a piece of an old satellite motor went zipping by.

If the station had been hit, the crew could have quickly undocked and returned to Earth. The risk of space junk hitting a Soyuz capsule is much slimmer.

Usually, when NASA gets a warning, several days in advance, that something that might come too close to the station, it moves the station by firing thrusters. Or, if a space shuttle happened to be visiting at the time, the shuttle would nudge the station out of danger. That has happened 12 times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/sc...k.html?_r=1&hp


Note: June 28, 2011

[Gerald]

Hey...what a ride

[krashkart]

1,100 feet is cutting it pretty close.

I wish I could remember where I read a firsthand account of a similar encounter, from a Russian cosmonaut aboard the Mir. He said he was looking out a window one day and saw a chunk of twisted metal the size of a chair coming toward them.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by krashkart

1,100 feet is cutting it pretty close.

I wish I could remember where I read a firsthand account of a similar encounter, from a Russian cosmonaut aboard the Mir. He said he was looking out a window one day and saw a chunk of twisted metal the size of a chair coming toward them.

I say,

[razark]

Originally Posted by krashkart

1,100 feet is cutting it pretty close.

And close calls are usually measured in kilometers...

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by razark

And close calls are usually measured in kilometers...

True,