China Satellite Debris Threatens to Collapse ISS, Astronauts Tell to Hide
MOSCOW - The International Space Station (ISS) has been warned about space debris that could hit and damage the ISS.
Ground controls in Russia and the United States (US) ordered the crew to briefly hide inside their spacecraft on Wednesday (11/10/2021).
Crew members were allowed to resume work after space debris flew over the ISS. The debris is said to be part of a damaged Chinese satellite.
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On Wednesday (11/10/2021), the ISS maneuvered to avoid a collision with a piece of a Chinese weather satellite that was destroyed by a weapons test in 2007.
The crew had two days to prepare for Wednesday's incident. This time they didn't have enough time to maneuver. In such cases, crews are ordered to take cover in their spacecraft for possible evacuation to Earth's surface.
Russian cosmonauts were allowed to leave the Soyuz spacecraft, where they were hiding from space debris.
The cosmonauts have observed no sign of the ISS's contact with the space junk and normal pressure, according to conversations between crew and ground personnel.
Previously, Russian cosmonauts were ordered to move to Soyuz MS-19, because a dangerous piece of space debris was projected to fly past the ISS.
"According to the mission control center in Houston, in the near future the ISS will enter the corridor of a possible encounter with a space debris object. According to onboard instructions, if the ISS approaches a potentially hazardous object, the crew must be on the spacecraft at the time of the encounter. ," said Roscosmos.
Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, and United States astronaut Mark Thomas Vande moved to the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft in anticipation of the ISS flying past the satellite debris.
"The Soyuz crew is on the spacecraft, the hatches are closed, we are ready," a specialist at the Mission Control Center near Moscow told Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov.
Earlier, the Mission Control Center maneuvered the ISS to avoid the debris of the Chinese satellite.
The correction was designed to avoid fragments of the Fengyun-1C spacecraft, which, according to the ballistics service, would approach 1,969 feet from the ISS.