ISS Astronauts Take Shelter In Boeing Starliner After Satellite Breakup (space.com) 25
Nine astronauts aboard the International Space Station were forced to take shelter late Wednesday when a satellite broke up in low Earth orbit. This "debris-generating event" created "over 100 pieces of trackable [space junk]," according to U.S. space-tracking firm LeoLabs. Space.com reports: The Expedition 71 crew on the International Space Station (ISS) went to their three spacecraft, including Boeing Starliner, shortly after 9 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT), according to a brief NASA update on X, formerly known as Twitter. As the ISS follows a time zone identical to GMT, according to the European Space Agency, the astronauts were likely in their sleep period when the incident occurred. The procedure was a "precautionary measure", NASA officials added, stating that the crew only stayed in their spacecraft for about an hour before they were "cleared to exit their spacecraft, and the station resumed normal operations."
NASA did not specify which satellite was associated with the incident, but satellite monitoring and collision detection firm LeoLabs identified a "debris-generating event" that same evening. "Early indications are that a non-operational Russian spacecraft, Resurs-P1 [or] SATNO 39186, released a number of fragments," the company wrote on X. U.S. Space Command also reported the Resurs-P1 event, saying on X that over 100 pieces of trackable debris were generated. The military said it "observed no immediate threats and is continuing to conduct routine conjunction assessments." (A conjunction refers to a close approach of two objects in orbit to one another.)
NASA did not specify which satellite was associated with the incident, but satellite monitoring and collision detection firm LeoLabs identified a "debris-generating event" that same evening. "Early indications are that a non-operational Russian spacecraft, Resurs-P1 [or] SATNO 39186, released a number of fragments," the company wrote on X. U.S. Space Command also reported the Resurs-P1 event, saying on X that over 100 pieces of trackable debris were generated. The military said it "observed no immediate threats and is continuing to conduct routine conjunction assessments." (A conjunction refers to a close approach of two objects in orbit to one another.)
Erm (Score:3)
Starliner is currently stuck at ISS because Boeing.
Pretty awkward for NASA et al.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
It's stuck. They were supposed to leave two days ago, but NASA won't green light it because of helium leaks an thruster glitches. As of now they don't have a date for departure. Just "July sometime." August if they have to wait for Dragon. They do have authorization for emergency departure.
Did they bring enough (Score:2)
meals and snacks?
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It's a balance of risks. If the ISS was critically damaged by debris it might well be safer to return to Earth in the Starliner, despite the known issues with it. If the ISS is not under threat then it's safer to stay there while they debug the Starliner.
Everything in space is a question of risk. There is no 100% safe option, only tolerable levels of risk, or in the worst case picking the last dangerous one.
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They are in the service module, which burns up on reentry.
Hard to attain a proper reentry profile with thruster problems.
Re:Erm (Score:5, Informative)
Perfect excuse (Score:3)
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Well, double checking, apparently they can bring them back using a crew dragon capsule. It's actually designed for more passengers than NASA ever planned on putting in the capsule, so it has the extra seats and equipment for them.
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IIRC, the extra seats have to be installed before launch.
Russian anti satellite weapon? (Score:3)
Re:Russian anti satellite weapon? (Score:4, Informative)
There is no confirmation of this, but it's possible.
They supposedly launched one some time ago.
I find this unlikely because this would be a threat to their own astronauts. What is potentially more likely is the satellite had some corrosive fuel on it that ate through pipes and exploded. Seems odd, but there's a reason why none of the existing crewed spacecraft can't stay up in space more than 200+ days.
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I tend to err on your side, but don't make the mistake of believing Putin won't throw his own astronauts under the bus just to make a point. A bus or any other mode of transportation, for that matter.
Re: Russian anti satellite weapon? (Score:2)
A satellite launched more than a decade ago and decommissioned 2 and a half years ago? About zero.
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I expect it was ordered by Stalin himself.
Yikes (Score:2)
That's like taking shelter in a bomb shelter full of bombs or a fallout shelter full of fall .. er ..uh .. floatout.
Sounds familiar (Score:2)
Sounds like the start of a movie [wikipedia.org] ... that didn't turn out well for most of the astronauts -- w/o a Boeing capsule.
Cool band name (Score:2)
Anyone else hear the new Debris Generating Event track?
Insert "two buttons" meme here (Score:4, Funny)
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Which one's the shark and which the battery?
I Am Convinced (Score:3)
OK. I am convinced. We are in a simulation. The astronauts-who-cannot-return-to-Earth due to a malfunction of their space craft are forced to take refuge in it due to an exploding satellite. This must be the opening sequence of Gravity II.
Re: (Score:2)
We have a saying around here:
> The believable can be made up, the unbelievable has to happen.
Sounds like a church and state problem (Score:2)
This is an illegal combination of church and state.
That is, it was NASA's backdoor way of getting a chapel to the ISS.
Now, really, do you think that the folks stuck in it for that hour did *anything* but pray their tails off?