Space Station avoids collision with unidentified debris

Astronauts from the International Space Station left shelter after successfully avoiding a collision with space debris.

The ISS altered its course at 4:19 p.m.

NASA's Mission Control in Houston and the U.S. Space Command were tracking an unknown piece of space debris that was expected to pass the station within several miles, according to a blog post.

To ensure the item did not hit the station, NASA and its Russian partners planned an avoidance maneuver using the Russian Progress resupply spacecraft that's currently docked to the station.

Astronauts moved to the Russian segment of the station to be closer to their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft as part of the safe haven procedure until the debris passed shortly after 5 p.m.

According to NASA, the object was expected to pass within 0.8 of a mile of the space station Tuesday afternoon.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said the maneuver was successful in moving the Space Station out of the way. “Maneuver Burn complete. The astronauts are coming out of safe haven,” he tweeted.

Tuesday marks the 26th time that the International Space Station has conducted an avoidance maneuver. Its most recent maneuvers were July 3 and April 19 of this year. Before 2020, the station last altered its course to avoid debris in 2015.

There are roughly 26,000 items, both debris and active satellites, tracked in Earth's orbit that are at least 10 centimeters across.

There are also smaller debris that can end space missions by puncturing a fuel tank or damaging a battery. NASA estimates

there are about 500,000 pieces of orbital debris larger than 1 centimeter and about 100 million items larger than 1 millimeter.

“Mission-ending risk for most operational spacecraft in (low-Earth orbit) is dominated by millimetersized orbital debris,” J-C Liou, NASA’s chief scientist for orbital debris, said in an email in March.

Bridenstine emphasized the point: “The @Space_Station has maneuvered 3 times in 2020 to avoid debris. In the last 2 weeks, there have been 3 high concern potential conjunctions. Debris is getting worse! Time for Congress to provide @CommerceGov with the $15 mil requested by @POTUS for the Office of Space Commerce.”

The International Space Station, which this year celebrates 20 years with astronauts onboard, has additional protections for this type of debris.

NASA via Associated Press Astronauts Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy take a spacewalk July 21. NASA says there are about 500,000 pieces of debris to avoid.