On Thursday, the International Space station (ISS) had a close shave and was successful in avoiding space debris from Russia’s anti-satellite weapons test. NASA later confirmed that the ISS had to quickly maneuver in order to avoid the orbital debris.
ISS escapes space debris from Russian anti-satellite weapons test
In November 2021, Russia’s anti-satellite weapon test destroyed a soviet-era Cosmos 1408 satellite. There were around 1500 pieces of debris from the incident. However, the space station was quickly maneuvered and successfully avoided a collision.
“The crew was never in any danger and the maneuver had no impact on station operations. Without the maneuver, it was predicted that the fragment could have passed within around a half-mile from the station,” read a NASA statement on the matter.
Cosmos 1408 was a Tselina-D satellite focussing on Electronic and Signals Intelligence. According to a NASA report, the satellite was launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia back in 1982.
This is not the first time the ISS had to perform such avoidance maneuvers. In November and December 2021, the ISS performed similar maneuvers to avoid colliding with space junk. They are important strategies to ensure the safety of astronauts inside the ISS. Additionally, they help avoid massive damages.
Here’s how the narrow escape was possible
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos used an uncrewed Progress 81 cargo ship docked at the International Space Station to move the orbiting lab away from the path of the space junk. It fired its thrusters for a total of 4 minutes and 34 seconds to help move the space station from the trajectory of fragments. Moreover, Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency shared a video on Telegram of the complete process used by the Progress 81 cargo ship.
“I confirm that at 22.03 Moscow time, the engines of the Russian Progress MS-20 transport cargo ship carried out an unscheduled maneuver to avoid a dangerous approach of the International Space Station with a fragment of the Kosmos-1408 spacecraft,” stated Dmitry Rogozin. Rogozin is the chief of Roscosmos.
