Story Created:
Jan 13, 2012 at 5:46 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Jan 13, 2012 at 5:46 PM EDT
The International Space Station crew has spotted a 10-centimeter piece of debris from an Iridium communications satellite and will perform a "reboost" of the station to avoid it. The reboost is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. ET today, January 13.
(CNN) -- The International Space Station crew has spotted a 10-centimeter piece of debris from an Iridium communications satellite and will perform a "reboost" of the station to avoid it. The reboost is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. ET today, January 13.
The reboost will raise the apogee of the station's orbit by 2/10 of a mile.
NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said that NASA had a scheduled reboost next week in order to dock with a Progress resupply vessel but that this piece of debris prompted NASA to move the scheduled reboost up.
The crew of Expedition 30, currently onboard the ISS, will not have to take shelter in the Soyuz spacecraft, but they have been instructed to close the window covers of the Cupola and power down certain systems until the time of the debris' closest approach has passed.
The crew of the ISS used the Russian Zvezda module's engines to boost the station's orbit.
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