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ISS Fender Bender

Posted by michael on from the any-landing-you-can-walk-away-from dept.

wjsteele writes "Seems that the Space Station has had a minor fender bender. Sounds kind of scary... being in a space craft and hearing metal crunching (like an aluminum can.) Apparently some 'Minor' space debris struck the station around 2:30am this morning, while the astronauts were eating their wheaties." Update: 11/27 16:31 GMT by M : Looks like an experiment may be to blame.

2 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. Minor? by KingDaveRa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Minor? If I was floating about in space in something with walls as thick as a tin can, I would be rather worried by now.

    According to This article on BBC News Michael Foale is no stranger to this: "He was onboard the Mir space station in 1987 when a Progress supply tanker crashed into it - one of the most dangerous incidents to have ever taken place in space."

    I'd still be crapping my pants though. There's no jumping off this one.

  2. Fender Bender ? by mbone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is one of the weirdest things I have heard of -
    - Both astronauts heard it
    - By this point they should be pretty familar with the noises the station makes - for example, the thermal expansion / contraction as you go through the terminator.
    - It did not sound like an explosion (typical velocities of space debris impacts is 5 kilometers per second or so - and meteorites impact at even higher velocities), so it probably wasn't a piece of random junk.
    - They got out the mobile camera and couldn't see anything damaged.

    So what was it ? Let's hope it wasn't some valve or other part failing, but I suspect we will hear more of this.