ISS maneuvers to avoid orbital debris
Posted: Tue, Jan 31, 2012, 6:59 AM ET (1159 GMT)
The International Space Station adjusted its orbit over the weekend to dodge a piece of orbital debris from a Chinese anti-satellite weapon test. Thrusters on the station's Zvezda module fires for just over a minute on Saturday evening to raise the station's orbit by over a kilometer, moving the station out of path of a piece of debris from the Fengyun-1C satellite. That satellite was destroyed in a test of a direct ascent ASAT weapon by China in 2007, creating a large amount of orbital debris in low Earth orbit. The maneuver eliminated the need for a previously-planned reboost maneuver on Wednesday.
The International Space Station adjusted its orbit over the weekend to dodge a piece of orbital debris from a Chinese anti-satellite weapon test. Thrusters on the station's Zvezda module fires for just over a minute on Saturday evening to raise the station's orbit by over a kilometer, moving the station out of path of a piece of debris from the Fengyun-1C satellite. That satellite was destroyed in a test of a direct ascent ASAT weapon by China in 2007, creating a large amount of orbital debris in low Earth orbit. The maneuver eliminated the need for a previously-planned reboost maneuver on Wednesday.
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