ISS astronauts forced to hide in destroyed capsule as Russian satellite breaks into pieces

ISS astronauts, including Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, have taken refuge in the docked Starliner spacecraft after a defunct Russian satellite broke into pieces, spreading potentially dangerous debris around the orbit.

The nine ISS crew members stuck on the Boeing Starliner have taken a precautionary measure after the breakup of the Russian Resurs-P1 Earth observation satellite, which split into more than 100 pieces near the space station on June 26, NASA writes on X.

"Mission control continued to monitor the trajectory of the debris, and after about an hour, the crew was allowed to exit their spacecraft and the station resumed normal operations," NASA said.

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According to the report, LeoLabs, an orbit monitoring company, first noticed that the Resurs-P1 satellite, declared unoperational in 2022, disintegrated when it detected a "debris-producing event in low Earth orbit" on June 26. The US Space Command said there were "no immediate threats" to other satellites. The exact cause of the satellite's disintegration remains unknown.

Space debris in orbit above the Earth is becoming a growing problem for astronauts and satellites. Space agencies around the world are trying to track more than 30,000 of the largest pieces of debris, but many other pieces are too small to track.

Scientists have suggested several ways to clean up the debris in Earth's orbit, such as collecting it in nets, picking it up with clawed robots, or using a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) long cable from another spacecraft to grab pieces of debris.

The event also highlights the risks faced by NASA and Boeing in completing their beleaguered Starliner mission, which left astronauts Wilmore and Williams stranded aboard the ISS due to numerous problems with the spacecraft.

The two astronauts were originally scheduled to return to Earth on June 13 after a week on the ISS, but their stay was extended indefinitely after engineers discovered five separate helium leaks in the spacecraft's engine system and malfunctions in five of its 28 reaction control systems.

Due to the limited fuel used to maintain orbit, the Starliner can only stay on the docking station for 45 days, so the window for a safe return flight continues to narrow.

NASA plans to keep the ISS operational until at least 2030. After that, the massive space station will be safely brought down from orbit into the Earth's atmosphere and then safely fall into the ocean.

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