Wednesday, 22 June 2022 – 13:22 WIB
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VIVA – Aeronautics and Space Agency or NASA forced to take emergency action against the International Space Station (ISS) to be able to avoid space debris sent towards the ISS after Russia blow up the satellite.
Tests of Russian anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) have been carried out since November 2021. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, used the unmanned Progress 81 cargo ship docked at the ISS to help the ISS avoid the fragments of the Russian satellite Cosmos 1408.
The Russian cargo spacecraft detonated its thrusters for four and a half minutes to slightly raise the orbit of the ISS and shift it away from the space debris.
Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Telegram that he confirmed at 22:03 Moscow time, the engines of the Russian Progress MS-20 cargo ship carried out an unscheduled maneuver to avoid the ISS’s dangerous approach from a cosmos-1408 fragment.
NASA said no crew member was in any danger from the space debris. The debris is expected to remain on the ISS, according to the site ExpressWednesday, June 22, 2022.
“The crew was not in any danger and the maneuver had no impact on station operations. Without the maneuver it is estimated that the shards could have passed about half a mile from the station,” the NASA official added.
When the satellite’s first destruction test was conducted, it sent as much as 1500 pieces of space debris hurtling past the ISS. This forced four NASA astronauts to take cover in the spacecraft.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the debris generated during ASAT led ISS astronauts and cosmonauts to perform emergency safety procedures.
“I am outraged by this irresponsible and unstable act,” Nelson said.
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