Space debris flying towards the International Space Station necessitated evasive action on Thursday (August 24).
of Russian modules international space station (ISS) turned on power at around 11:00 am EDT (3:00 pm GMT, 6:00 pm in Moscow) and sent the orbital complex away. space junk. NASA confirmed the maneuver via email.
“On Thursday, the engines of the International Space Station’s Zvezda Service Module were fired for 21.5 seconds…to keep the facility away from the expected orbit of orbital debris debris,” a NASA official wrote.
The space station drops its orbit about 1,640 feet (500 meters) toward Earth, Russian report Translated by Google from the Russian state media “Tas News Agency”.Average altitude of ISS above earth Approximately 250 miles or 400 km.
A NASA email and a previous NASA blog post state that the orbit adjustment will: no effect The space station is busy operating 24 hours a day.
Related: How often must the International Space Station avoid space debris?
The Progress 85 cargo ship is scheduled to arrive at the ISS around 11:50 PM EDT (Friday, August 25, 0350 GMT) on Thursday.
A few hours after its arrival, space x Crew 7’s quartet of astronauts will also be rocketed to the ISS. It will be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. 3:50 am EDT (0750 GMT) i can do it on friday see the news here Space.com, via NASA Television. Their planned docking will take place on Saturday (August 26th) and will also be live here at Space.com through NASA.
A course correction by the ISS occurred Over 30 times since 1999 And that need is accelerating as more satellites and space debris accumulate in orbit. It is unclear whether the debris passed near the space station this time, or if it was natural or man-made.
But generally such flybys occur from relatively far away.
NASA guidelines monitor the ISS for incoming debris within a “pizza box” area around the space station’s orbit approximately 2.5 x 30 x 30 miles (4 x 50 x 50 kilometers) centered on the ISS. It is said thatTo government official. Tracking is through the US military and can track flying objects as small as 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter.
This article was updated at 2:00 PM EDT with the latest information from NASA.