Close Call: Astronauts Evacuate But Space Station Avoids Debris Hit

By Nancy Atkinson - March 12, 2009 at 10:48 AM UTC | Space Policy
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[/caption] The three crew members on board the International Space Station were told to "evacuate" into the Soyuz spacecraft earlier today, when they were notified of possible debris hit to the station. However, thankfully, the debris passed by harmlessly. NASA and mission control in Moscow received a "RED threshold late notice conjunction threat alert" Thursday morning, confirming the object, cataloged as "25090 PAM-D" – said to be a piece of a spent satellite rocket motor --, would approach near the station at 16:39 GMT. Mission control radioed to the crew the possibility of impact to the station was low, but the piece of debris was large enough that if it hit the ISS, there would only be a 10 minute reserve time. NASA sources said the debris was estimated to be 0.009 meters (0.35 inches) wide, weighing less than 1 kg, (

Update:

NASA now says the object was about 5 inches (12.7 cm) and was expected to pass about 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) from the station. That is close enough for concern in space.

The crew responded quickly and professionally throughout the close-out procedures. ISS Commander Mike Fincke, US crew member Sandy Magnus and Russian Flight engineer Yury Lonchakov followed pre-prescribed procedures in closing hatches and window shutters before climbing into the Soyuz. The Soyuz hatch, however was left open. If the debris had hit the station, the crew could have quickly shut the Soyuz hatch and flew to Earth.
[caption id="attachment_26964" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="The three crewmembers currently on board the ISS. Credit: NASA"]

[/caption] The object was initially classified as a low threat of collision with the ISS. However, tracking Thursday morning suggested a greater threat. Usually, when debris is seen as on a possible collision course with the ISS, the station is able to fire thrusters and maneuver out of danger. However, because of the late notice, there wasn't time to perform the thruster maneuvers.

Afterward, Fincke radioed to mission control that they had kept an eye out for debris passing by while they were in the Soyuz, but they didn't see anything. The crew quickly returned to the station, opening up hatches and other systems they had shut down, resuming their schedule. Magnus calmly said she was going to go running, part of the daily exercise routine astronauts must perform in space to maintain muscle mass and bone density. Events that were previously scheduled during the time of the evacuation procedures are being rescheduled.

See more info on the debris and evacuation procedures at

NASASpaceflight.com.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com