Sunita Williams and other US astronauts aboard ISS forced to take shelter as Russian satellite breaks up near station

RESURS-P1 (#39186) broke up in low-Earth orbit on Wednesday, June 26, at approximately 1000 MT (1600 UTC), leaving behind more than 100 pieces of trackable debris, US Space Command notified. The alarming development forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station to take emergency shelter. According to NASA‘s Space Station Office, once the Russian Earth observation satellite broke up in an orbit near the ISS, US astronauts were directed to take shelter in their spacecraft for approximately an hour.

US Space Command further added that “USSPACECOM has observed no immediate threats and is continuing to conduct routine conjunction assessments to support the safety and sustainability of the space domain.” At the time of writing, US space agencies didn’t indicate any particular cause for the event.

Also read | NASA’s ISS spacesuit nightmare builds up while Sunita Williams is still stuck in space

Space-tracking firm LeoLabs said late Wednesday that it had detected a “debris-generating event in Low Earth Orbit.” Their early estimations of the breakup indicated that it occurred between 9:05 a.m. and 8:51 p.m. ET.

“The ~6,000 kg satellite was in a nearly circular orbit at ~355 km at the time of the event,” LeoLabs subtweeted on X/Twitter. A following update notified the agency is “now tracking at least 180 fragments” from the event. This number is expected to escalate in the coming days.

US astronauts, including Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, take shelter in their spacecraft amid Russian satellite fracture

This tense revelation has come to light while NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are still stuck in space, on board their Boeing Starliner spacecraft. Following the standard protocol procedure, Mission Control guided crew members to take shelter in their spacecraft. Therefore, Williams and Wilmore presumably took refuge in the Starliner capsule. Their Boeing-built spacecraft lifted off on June 5 and docked at the ISS module Harmony.

Also read | Boeing blames missing paperwork as potential cause of Alaska Air mishap, incites NTSB row

The astronaut duo is currently held back in space as NASA manages “small helium system leaks and thruster performance.” Although initially scheduled for an 8-day mission, Williams and Wilmore’s stay has been prolonged for over three weeks due to technical issues. Meanwhile, NASA has firmly maintained the spacecraft can safely return to Earth with the astronauts if needed.

Space debris is just another constant dilemma plaguing the ISS, with a looming consequential spacesuit situation. Postponed spacewalks, water leaks in spacesuit helmets, and Collins Aerospace, a key spacesuit designer NASA selected in 2022 to upgrade its suits based on a 40-year-old design, “descoping” its work on the deal are some other setbacks NASA is facing at the moment.