A small piece of an old Russian weather satellite forced the crew of the International Space Station to take cover in an escape vehicle for a short time Thursday.
Officials at NASA Mission Control in Houston calculated that the fragment of space junk would pass close to the space station at 7:01 a.m. Central time. Based on the small chance of a “possible conjunction with the station,” flight director Ed Van Cise ordered ISS Commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineers Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko to take shelter in a Soyuz vehicle that is docked at the station.