Saturday, March 24, 2012

Space Debris Forces Astronauts To Take Shelter

Astronauts Head To Escape Capsules As Precaution; Station Not Hit

POSTED: 3:52 am MDT March 24, 2012
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UPDATED: 5:38 am MDT March 24, 2012
A piece of a debris from a Russian Cosmos satellite passed close enough to the International Space Station on Saturday that its crew was ordered into escape capsules as a precaution, NASA said.
The six crew members were told to take shelter late Friday in their Soyuz capsules after it was determined there was a small possibility the debris could hit the station, the U.S. space agency said in a statement.
NASA said it began tracking the debris early Friday morning but only decided to take the precautionary steps after an analysis showed a slight possibility of hitting the space station.
The debris was predicted to pass about 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) from the space station, NASA said.

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1 comment:

  1. The rockets, satellites and probes we have sent into orbit over the decades have created a fast-moving debris field that contains hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk.No one country or agency has taken ownership over the growing problem, but it seems Japan has decided to step up and take control.Space debris getting dust from solid rocket motors, surface degradation products such as paint flakes & impacts of these particles cause erosive damage similar to sandblasting.Keeping these things in mind Japan to start thinking seriously about a militarized program focusing on space.For more details :

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