Tiny space debris causes ISS emergency evacuation

From the BNO Newsroom.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (BNO NEWS) -- The International Space Station (ISS) crew was briefly evacuated on Thursday amid a space debris collision risk, NASA officials told BNO News on Thursday.

A spokesman for the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas told BNO News the crew was evacuated to the Soyuz capsule at 12.34 p.m. EDT and returned about ten minutes later after an old motor, which is reported to be 0.009 meters, passed without incident. The Russian Space Command also confirmed no impact occurred.

Earlier, a spokeswoman at the NASA Headquarters News Center told BNO News it was preparing for a possible evacuation but described the possibility of an actual impact as "low". NASA described it as a rare event. "Tracking data says the object will be within a 4.5 kilometer range," the spokeswoman said.

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