The US space agency ordered the nine crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) to temporarily take refuge in their capsules, including the Boeing’s Starlineras a precautionary measure due to the breakup of a Russian satellite in Earth orbit low that left a hundred pieces of debris.
The fact It happened when the astronauts were sleepingmidnight on Wednesday, and lasted just one hour, according to NASA.
The astronauts they briefly moved to three spaceshipsincluding Boeing’s Starliner, which has been unable to return to Earth since June 14 as planned with its crew of two astronauts, due to helium leaks.
The crew of the so-called Expedition 71 of the space laboratory headed to its three ships shortly after 02:00 GMT, according to NASA on the social network X, when the accident occurred. “at an altitude close to that of the station”.
The procedure was a “standard precautionary measure” and the crew has already resumed their duties, according to NASA.
“Mission Control continued to monitor the debris path and, after approximately one hour, The crew was cleared to exit their spacecraft and the station resumed normal operations,” NASA said.
The satellite that disintegrated was Russian Resurs-P1the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) confirmed on Thursday.
He stressed that the disintegration occurred in low Earth orbit this Wednesday at approximately 16:00 GMT and caused more than 100 pieces of traceable debris.
The Command stressed that has not observed any immediate threats and continues to conduct routine assessments to support the security and sustainability of the space domain.
The Russian commercial Earth observation satellite was capable of acquire high resolution images.
