Space Junk Threatens Space Station!

They were just talking again. Saying they were ready to depart. Is 'depart' just astronaut lingo for moving to the airlock, because, literally taken, it sounds like they're detaching from the ISS ... ???

EDIT:

On a side note, Discovery was supposed to launch last night to take equipment to the ISS. It was canceled for a 'gas leak'

Any possibility the guys at NASA had fore knowledge of this and postponed Discovery for that reason?

[edit on 12-3-2009 by PH43DRUS]

reply to post by cropmuncher


Into the Soyuz

I think what I heard at first is that they will have about a 10 minute window to know if the object will collide. That isn't much time.

I don't know when the approach will occur.

5 minutes with empahasis on 5 minutes.

where is the approach from

Originally posted by Chadwickus
Scary stuff, what if the ISS goes down...

It'll set space exploration back decades!

I think you mean space exploitation.

All is well. You can hear the relief in their voices.

Object has passed by
understand clear but what was the object....


you will never guess what.. basically airduct connected to the life node

Looks like the debris missed...

Is being covered on Sky news as of now..

Yeaa, it missed. Sound like it was pretty close. But now I'm wondering, if the junk is in orbit, won't it come just as close next time around?

reply to post by Phage


Glad alls well.

So is that what you do all day Phage, just listen to nasa live in the background?

while on ats of course.....or is it that its really going on in your background

[edit on 12/3/09 by cropmuncher]

Only with my morning coffee.

Sounds like it was a close call.


Was a bit tense for a while there.

Guys... I don't think they're evacuating because of space junk, they're evacuating because our sun is acting up, the magnetosphere is out of whack right now.

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
No mention of this on the 24hr news channels! Is this just everyday precautionary protocol or is this an out of the ordinary event?

IRM

It was reported on a few mins ago by cnn. I am sure all will be fine. We have so much technology am sure they are prepared for any incident.

Fox News beamed direct pictures. Cool!

IRM

reply to post by Chadwickus

It will be interesting to learn how close it was. But in any case, damn those guys are good!

reply to post by InfaRedMan


Yeah. But you heard it first right here on ATS!

The 21st Space Wing[1] is a unit of the Air Force Space Command based at Peterson Air Force Base[2], Colorado. The unit is tasked with the operation of early missile warning and space object detection equipment around the world in support of NORAD[3] and USSTRATCOM[4] through a network of command and control units and ground based sensors operated by geographically separated units around the world.
The Wing’s services include more than 9,000 government and contractor personnel detect, track and catalog more than 14,000 catalogued man-made objects in space, from those in near-Earth orbit to objects up to 22,300 miles above the earth's surface and explores counterspace warfighting technologies in the field.

en.wikipedia.org...

dont you think they would have seen this comming way way in advance??, this is pretty crazy, i bet it would have been an intense situation.

Does anyone know how to record the feed off Nasa TV? I've tried allsorts of different capture software but never been able to record the feed.

The reason I ask. Last year I caught a UFO in the background on a mission and started recording it through realplayer. When I stopped the recording to review it all I had was the audio and the file was a .ivr which I couldn't convert or edit. The audio has capcom asking the astronauts what the object is behind them, then they tell the astronaut not to bother.

An 1hr or so after that I managed to grab a few screenshots of a different object in the background.

Originally posted by UKWO1Phot
Is being covered on Sky news as of now..

It was MY email!! That got them looking at it

The presenter said this is unverified right now A viewer just emailed us!! (emphases on 'A') That viewer was me!!! Right then she corrected her self and said it was been reported by NASA and reuters!



edit: only got an automated thankyou email though... No finders fee

[edit on 12/3/2009 by Now_Then]