Satellite Breakdown Forces ISS Astronauts into Spacecraft Amid Growing Concerns over Space Junk

On June 27, a satellite broke apart in orbit and the International Space Station (ISS) was forced to act quickly to ensure the safety of its nine astronauts. The incident occurred at 1:00 a.m. GMT, which is also the time zone that the ISS operates in. The astronauts may have been sleeping at the time of the incident.

NASA announced that two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, moved into Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft while three American astronauts and one Russian astronaut sought refuge in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The remaining three astronauts moved into Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. The astronauts were only in their spacecraft for about an hour before resuming normal operations on the station.

The satellite that broke apart was not identified by NASA but was tracked by satellite monitoring company LeoLabs as a debris event involving a non-functional Russian satellite, Resurs-P1. This event created over 100 pieces of trackable debris. Resurs-P1 was launched in 2013 and had been operating beyond its expected lifespan. As more space junk accumulates in orbit, it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor and avoid collisions with these objects, posing a growing concern for agencies like NASA and NORAD.

NASA works with the US military to monitor space around the ISS and takes precautions to ensure the safety of both the station and its crew members. In case of debris larger than 5 cm entering its orbit, the space station may need to be moved out of harm’s way to prevent any collisions or further damage to equipment on board or nearby satellites. Other sites mentioned in this article are unrelated to this incident, such as LibraryThing joker123motobola