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ISS Fender Bender

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.

9 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. 2:30 AM, eh? by gowen · · Score: 5, Funny

    Glad you included that, because times of day -- especially those lacking any sort of timezone information -- are extremely useful when referring to events that take place in space.

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    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
    1. Re:2:30 AM, eh? by jfoust · · Score: 5, Informative

      According to the Houston Chronicle, among other sources, the incident took place at 1:59 am CST (0759 GMT) Wednesday.

  2. Space Junk by Chatmag · · Score: 5, Informative

    A 1999 study estimated there are some 4 million pounds of space junk in low-Earth orbit, just one part of a celestial sea of roughly 110,000 objects larger than 1 centimeter -- each big enough to damage a satellite or space-based telescope.

    It's no wonder the ISS was hit. All they need is the space equivalent of the "adopt a highway" program, and a lot of plastic bags.

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    Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
  3. Oh, I know what this is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Micheal Foale's got one of those sound effect key fobs.

    Instead of the usual Grenade Launcher, Bazooka, Machine Gun noises, the new space version comes with 'crunching metal tin', 'airlock hiss' and 'oops, we lost a solar panel' noises...

    Nice one Michael!

  4. 30,000 km/s can do a lot of damage by asciimonster · · Score: 5, Informative

    I recall an insident with a space shuttle a few years ago. A flick of paint hit a window and left a fist-sized star in that window. That's the danger of space 30,000 km/s isn't a big deal in space, but having a collision at that speed is quite an impact.

    So anyone who still think the movie Armageddon is based on scientific facts. (Remember the body being flung againt the windscreen and it didn't even have a scratch?) Think again...

  5. A simplier explanation by doktorstop · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Russian Space Agency has just issued a simplier explanation. They've been trying to figure out what happened and came out with a different idea. No debris have hit the station. The sound was internal, coming from something that jammed a fan in the internal air ventilation system. This also has been confirmed by specialists from RosAviaKosmos (the company that built IIS =) Sorry, folks, the Mars attack theory will have to wait till next time =)

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  6. Re:Minor? by MouseR · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's no jumping off this one.

    Actually, yes there is.

    The ISS has a permanently docked Soyuz capsule for evacuation purposes.

    Some details, here, also indicate that the incident you mention actually took place in 1997.

    NASA also have info on the escape capsule.

  7. Why didn't they just... by riggwelter · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...raise shields?!

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    Listening for the sound of the coming rain...
  8. Filmmaker David Cronenberg Arrested In Space by Saint+Aardvark · · Score: 5, Funny
    INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION -- Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg was arrested today over 700 miles above the Earth's surface when he was found filming scenes for a sequel to his controversial film, Crash, a movie about sexual attraction to car crashes.

    Cronenberg, who had not obtained permission to film from the American or Russian space agencies, was found outside the International Space Station by astronauts after they were awoken by what sounded like "a car being crashed". Upon investigation, the astronauts found Cronenberg discussing the result of a take with actor Elias Koteas and giving direction for the next.

    "I can't believe he did this," said cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri from the space station. "This is not a movie studio."

    The arrest comes only six months after Cronenberg announced that he was entering the X-Prize Contest, which promises an award of $10,000,000 US to the first privately-owned reusable spacecraft. Outside of a few die-hard fans of the director's work, no one had taken Cronenberg's entrace seriously.

    "This really fucks things up for me," said John Carmack, the odds-on favourite in the contest. "If he posts bail and gets back up in space, then he wins the prize. I never knew he was this far ahead."

    Cronenberg is being held in a washroom on the International Space Station pending a routine Soyuz supply flight. Sources at NASA say that it's possible he could be formally booked and bail set within as little as six days, giving him plenty of time to fulfill the X-Prize conditions.

    Open-source programmer Richard Stallman could not be reached for comment, but sources close to the computing guru said he had been collaborating with Cronenberg for some time. "He was one of the paramedics in the first Crash," said a friend. "I think Cronenberg's making him a meteorite or something in this one."