ORLANDO, Fla. – Concerns over space debris have delayed Tuesday’s planned spacewalk at the International Space Station.
Two U.S. astronauts were set to replace a bad antenna outside of the space station. But late Monday night, Mission Control learned that a piece of orbiting debris might come dangerously close. There wasn’t enough time to assess the threat so station managers delayed the spacewalk for at least a few days.
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The notification comes just days after a field of debris got uncomfortably close to the space station following a missile test by Russia.
It’s the first time a spacewalk has been canceled because of threat from space junk.
NASA received a debris notification for the space station. Due to the lack of opportunity to properly assess the risk it could pose to the astronauts, teams have decided to delay the Nov. 30 spacewalk until more information is available. https://t.co/HJCXFWBd3Y pic.twitter.com/swj5hqusSo
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) November 30, 2021
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the object of concern was part of the Russian satellite wreckage. During a news conference Monday, NASA officials said the Nov. 15 missile test resulted in at least 1,700 satellite pieces big enough to track, and thousands more too small to be observed from the ground but still able to pierce a spacewalker’s suit.
NASA officials said astronauts Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron faced a 7% greater risk of a spacewalk puncture because of the Russian-generated debris. But they said it was still within acceptable limits based on previous experience.
Marshburn and Barron arrived at the space station earlier this month.
The spacewalk wasn’t the only thing affected by space debris. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter Tuesday that the company has had to shift the orbits of Starlink satellites because of the collision risk.
We had to shift some Starlink satellite orbits to reduce probability of collision. Not great, but not terrible either.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 30, 2021
Station & Dragon have micrometeorite shields (ultra high velocity impact absorption), but EVA suits do not, hence higher risk for spacewalk.
SpaceX has been launching thousands of Starlink satellites to create a network to bring internet access to underserved areas.
There is another Starlink launch planned for Wednesday evening from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch will take place at 6:20 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 40.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.