CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The six space station astronauts took shelter in lifeboats Tuesday when a piece of orbiting junk came dangerously close.

The unidentified object came within 1,100 feet of the station – the closest space junk ever.

Mission Control ordered the astronauts into the two Russian Soyuz capsules parked at the space station Tuesday morning. NASA got just 14 hours’ notice of the close approach, not nearly enough time to move the space station out of harm’s way.

Even a small piece of debris can do big damage. The astronauts could have undocked in their two Soyuz capsules and returned to Earth, in case of a serious collision.

NASA does not know how big the object was or where it came from. It could be a chunk of an old satellite or spent rocket.

 


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