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| Russia's Roscosmos Spacecraft Maneuver to Rescue the International Space Station (ISS) |
Moscow - The Russian space agency Roscosmos used the unmanned Progress 81 cargo ship to maneuver to avoid space debris that was about to hit the International Space Station (ISS).
Russia admits the space debris came from the destroyed Russian satellite Cosmos 1408 that was shot during an anti-satellite missile test in November 2021. A piece of space junk from Russia's anti-satellite weapons test forced the International Space Station (ISS) to maneuver. to avoid orbital debris on Thursday (16 June).
Russia used the Progress 81 spacecraft to fire its thrusters for 4 minutes and 34 seconds to move the massive space station away from the trajectory of the Cosmos-1408 fragment and slightly raise the station's orbit. “I can confirm that at 22.03 Moscow time, the engines of the Russian Progress MS-20 cargo ship carried out an unscheduled maneuver.
This maneuver is to avoid a dangerous approach from the International Space Station with fragments of the Kosmos-1408 spacecraft," said Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin as quoted from Space.com, Monday (20/6/2022).
For your information, Cosmos 1408 is a Soviet Electronic and Signals Intelligence Tselina-D satellite launched in 1982 from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome. On November 15, 2021, the defunct satellite was deliberately destroyed by Russia in an anti-satellite missile test that produced about 1,500 pieces of orbital debris. "The crew was not in immediate danger and the maneuver had no impact on the station's (ISS) operations. Without maneuvering, it is estimated that the debris could have crossed the dean of the (ISS) station in about half a mile," NASA officials wrote.
According to a NASA report, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) were forced to take cover because of concerns over debris that could pose a hazard. The debris has over the years remained a threat to some for the space station and other spacecraft.