International Space Station forced to dodge potentially deadly collision in space

The International Space Station has been forced to conduct emergency movements to avoid a potentially deadly collision in space.

The floating lab conducted a “Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver” after tracking data showed that it appeared to be on track to crash into a piece of old space debris.

The junk was made up of the upper stage of a piece of Russian rocket, Nasa said when it announced the move.

The space station had to fire its thrusters for just over 10 minutes to move out of the predicted track of the debris, Nasa said.

It also led to the cancellation of a spacewalk by two Nasa astronauts that was due to take place today.

Without the movement, the space station would have been predicted travel less then a quarter of a mile from the dangerous debris, Nasa said. Such risk is considered too much and so the space station sometimes has to move in emergencies to reduce the chance of any collision.

The crew of the space station was never in any “immediate danger”, Nasa said.

The space station has conducted three such Debris Avoidance Maneuvers this year, including the latest one. The others came in June and October.

That is up from two in 2021, and three in 2020, according to Nasa data.

Some of the recent collisions were linked to a weapon test in Russia that led to a field of debris floating above the Earth, and prompted international outcry.