The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) were surprised this afternoon (12:35 PM EDT) by NASA and the Russian Space Agency when told to vacate the ISS and get into the attached Russian Soyuz TMA-13 escape module. The Soyuz is always available in case of an emergency getaway.
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and the two American astronauts — Sandra Magnus and Michael Fincke (pictured) immediately did as instructed by their repected agencies and boarded the TMA-13 as ordered.
The reason for the emergency evac was a near miss from a piece of space debris that was tracked by radar coming awfully close to the station. Officials have indicated that while they weren’t 100% sure what the debris was, they believe it was likely a piece of ejected motor from the ISS less than an inch wide, according to NASA spokesman Josh Byerly. Even minute debris impacts could be life-threatening in the vaccum of space.
After sitting in the Soyuz for approximately 10 minutes all three crew members were told to report back into the ISS once the danger of collision had passed.
Had the small debris hit and penetrated the ISS the crew would have undocked immediately from the station in the Soyuz craft and headed back home to Earth for an emergency landing.
Once back onboard the ISS all three returned to their experiements and preparation for the next Shuttle visit to the station.
Perhaps it’s time to develop those Star Trek shields.
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