Jun 27, 2006, 16:19 GMT
Moscow - An old US satellite floating close to the International Space Station ISS caused concern at ground control for a while Tuesday.
But the danger of a collision between the space station and the Hitch Hiker satellite launched in 1963 were nil, the Russian flight control centre in Korolev near Moscow said.
The object weighing 79 kilogrammes should pass within 240 metres of the ISS later Tuesday evening but there would be no need for evasive manoeuvres, the Russian control centre decided in conjunction with the US space agency, NASA.
Any change in the position of the ISS would have caused difficulties for the docking of the US space ship Discovery, due to be launched on July 1.
Earlier the Russian flight centre refused to speculate on the origin of the piece of space debris. It later became clear it was an old US satellite.
If the ISS is ever endangered, astronauts Jeff Williams Uand Pavel Vinogradov have to secure themselves in the rescue space shuttle, Soyuz TM.
ISS crews have reportedly dodged space debris six times on the station's trajectory. In November 2003, a piece of metal struck the station but caused no damage.
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RichardJun 27th, 2006 - 22:02:30
Did any one on the ISS get any photo of the pices of space debris. That pass by
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