Space junk safely passes International Space Station (ISS)

2011-04-06 16:41:52 GMT+7 (ICT)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (BNO NEWS) -- A piece of space junk passed the International Space Station (ISS) at a close distance on Tuesday afternoon but the crew did not have to take shelter, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on Wednesday.

A NASA spokesman said on early Tuesday afternoon that the agency was monitoring a small piece of space debris that was drifting towards the ISS. The debris is part of Chinese satellite FENGYUN 1C that was launched in 1999 and is about 6 inches (15.2 cm) in size.

NASA said it was initially considering whether or not the crew should take shelter inside the Russian Soyuz TMA-20 capsule that brought them up to the station in December. But Mission Control gave the crew the all-clear at 2.41 p.m. EDT as the space station orbited 220 miles (354 kilometers) above eastern Asia.

After the all-clear, the Expedition 27 crew - Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli - resumed a normal schedule and the debris made its closest pass at 4.21 p.m. EDT at a distance of 3.5 miles (6 kilometers).

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The debris is part of Chinese satellite FENGYUN 1C that was launched in 1999 and is about 6 inches (15.2 cm) in size.

It is also the one China destroyed in an anti-satellite missile test.