The Russian space junk is part of an old Fregat upper stage and will pass within a quarter-mile of the station at 11:17 a.m. ET.
NASA has called off a planned spacewalk at the last moment after a large piece of Russian space debris came dangerously close to the orbital outpost.
NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada were getting ready to step out from the QUEST airlock on theearly Wednesday morning to install new solar arrays to improve the power system of the orbital outpost when their ground control team commanded them to halt the work. Instead, the space station will perform an emergency maneuver to get out of the way of a large piece ofThe debris in question is a piece of a Russian rocket, the 11-foot-wide Fregat upper stage used onand Zenith launchers.
"This is a piece of debris that's been tracked over the last couple of days and its tracking data was always in our green or yellow range, which doesn't necessitate doing a maneuver," Huot said."But this morning, it moved to red, and once we get into red, we have to take action, whether it's a debris maneuver or some other precautionary measure to help keep the crew safe.
The decision to cancel the spacewalk was made at around 5 a.m. EST , Huot added. The ground control team is now preparing to steer the station to safety using thrusters aboard Russia's Progress cargo spacecraft that is currently docked to the station's Russian segment. The maneuver is expected to take place at 8:42 a.m. EST .
Huot said that the space station is in no danger from the debris, which was predicted to make its closest approach to the space lab at 11:17 a.m. EST ."The crew is going to have to replan their schedule for the day so they don't expect to see a spacewalk today," Huot said."The crew is not in danger. This is not the first time we've done this and won't be the last. This is just about some of the realities of operating in low Earth orbit.
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