ISS successfully flies past space debris - NASA

MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax) - The International Space Station (ISS) has successfully flown past a piece of space debris, and the crew will soon be allowed to return to the station, the NASA mission control center said.

"All ISS pressures are stable. We are discussing back-out options," a Mission Control Center operator told the crew in a conversation aired by NASA.

Earlier on Monday, the ISS crew moved to the Soyuz and Crew Dragon spaceships due to a threat of collision with space debris. Roscosmos said, citing the NASA Mission Control Center, that the ISS would soon "enter a corridor of possible collision with space debris." NASA said that the risk of collision was "miniscule," Roscosmos noted. "The guidelines say that the crew should stay on a ship at the approach moment in the event of the ISS' approach by a potentially dangerous object," it said.

It was reported last week that a fragment of the Chinese Fengyun-1C satellite was due to zip past the ISS at a distance of about 600 meters in the early hours of November 12, and the ISS' orbit was elevated by 1,200 meters in that connection.

The Central Research Institute for Machine Building (TsNIIMash) said in April 2019 that the ISS had performed a total of 25 maneuvers to avoid collisions with space debris. The minimal distance between the ISS and pieces of space debris was 720 meters.

Two maneuvers of the sort were performed by the ISS last year, in July and September 2020.