Fragments of a RUSSIAN COSMOS-2251 satellite forced six space station astronauts to SEEK SHELTER in escape capsules early Saturday as the SPACE JUNK came close to a COLLISION course with the ISS. The space station crew climbed into two Soyuz vehicles ready to rocket back to Earth just in case.
The debris the debris passed within about 9 miles of the space station, at 2:38 A.M. EASTERN TIME. Soon afterward, American and Russian officials allowed the astronauts and cosmonauts to return to the station.
Russian satellite Cosmos-2251 (type Strela-2M) was launched on June 16, 1993 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. On February 10, 2009, THE SATELLITE COLLIDED WITH AMERICA'S IRIDIUM-33 at the height of 790 kilometers. Both satellites were completely destroyed. The incident became the first of its kind in space exploration history. Satellite Cosmos-2251 split into some 600 fragments larger than five centimeters, and thousands more smaller pieces, more from "THE SPACE REVIEW".
NASA said it could not even determine the size of the debris. Even small amounts of debris, however, can pose a danger to the 450-ton space station; the space station and the satellite debris were traveling at speeds of 17,500 miles an hour.
American commander, Daniel Burbank and five experts: Russians Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin and Oleg Kononenko and astronauts of NASA and the European Space Agency, Donald Pettit and Andr'e Kuipers hunkered down in two docked Soyuz spacecraft. This is the third time in 12 years that astronauts and cosmonauts have had to seek shelter from SPACE JUNK, pointing to a GROWING PROBLEM within the low earth orbit space commons.
Space agencies around the goble have growing concern with SPACE DEBRIS with many looking for means to MITIGATE AGAINST THE PROBLEM. The so-called "KESSLER SYNDROME" is expanding in low earth orbit.
The United States SPACE SURVEILLANCE NETWORK is TRACKING MORE THAN 22,000 OBJECTS larger than 4 inches in size, NASA said, with about 1,000 being some form of spacecraft and the rest being classified as debris. Most of the debris floats within 1,250 miles, or low orbit, of the planet.
Source: anomalies-in-backyard.blogspot.com
The debris the debris passed within about 9 miles of the space station, at 2:38 A.M. EASTERN TIME. Soon afterward, American and Russian officials allowed the astronauts and cosmonauts to return to the station.
Russian satellite Cosmos-2251 (type Strela-2M) was launched on June 16, 1993 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. On February 10, 2009, THE SATELLITE COLLIDED WITH AMERICA'S IRIDIUM-33 at the height of 790 kilometers. Both satellites were completely destroyed. The incident became the first of its kind in space exploration history. Satellite Cosmos-2251 split into some 600 fragments larger than five centimeters, and thousands more smaller pieces, more from "THE SPACE REVIEW".
NASA said it could not even determine the size of the debris. Even small amounts of debris, however, can pose a danger to the 450-ton space station; the space station and the satellite debris were traveling at speeds of 17,500 miles an hour.
American commander, Daniel Burbank and five experts: Russians Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin and Oleg Kononenko and astronauts of NASA and the European Space Agency, Donald Pettit and Andr'e Kuipers hunkered down in two docked Soyuz spacecraft. This is the third time in 12 years that astronauts and cosmonauts have had to seek shelter from SPACE JUNK, pointing to a GROWING PROBLEM within the low earth orbit space commons.
Space agencies around the goble have growing concern with SPACE DEBRIS with many looking for means to MITIGATE AGAINST THE PROBLEM. The so-called "KESSLER SYNDROME" is expanding in low earth orbit.
The United States SPACE SURVEILLANCE NETWORK is TRACKING MORE THAN 22,000 OBJECTS larger than 4 inches in size, NASA said, with about 1,000 being some form of spacecraft and the rest being classified as debris. Most of the debris floats within 1,250 miles, or low orbit, of the planet.
Source: anomalies-in-backyard.blogspot.com
