Space the New Frontier - Chinese Space Junk "Buzz" Shuttle, Hubble Telescope - by Tariq Malik
NASA on Wednesday tracked a piece of space junk leftover from a Chinese anti-satellite test in 2007 that zoomed past the shuttle Atlantis and the attached Hubble Space Telescope, which astronauts plucked from orbit earlier in the day. The satellite debris flew about 1.7 miles (2.8 km) ahead and a bit below Atlantis at its closest approach, but it was well clear of the shuttle and did not require the astronaut crew to move the spacecraft. "No action was required for the crew," said NASA commentator Pat Ryan on NASA TV.
Ryan said the piece of debris was small, about 4 inches (10 cm) in size. It buzzed by Atlantis at about 7:28 p.m. EDT (2328 GMT). In addition to flying in front of Atlantis, the space junk was about 492 feet (150 meters) below and just over 2.4 miles (4 km) outside the shuttle's orbital plane, Ryan said.
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