Yesterday a large piece of specedebris passed closely by the international spacestation ISS "The closest passage yet" says NASA

The crew onbolard the spacestation seeked shelter in the parked Souyz capsules during the passage, eventhough NASA where pretty sure that the piece itself did not pose a risk.

But the spacejunk could be surrounded by smaller fragments or its irbit could have been altered slightly, so as a precaution, the entered the escape-pods just in case.

The ISS "is the most heavily shielded spacecraft ever flown," NASA says. "Critical components, e.g. habitable compartments and high pressure tanks, will normally be able to withstand the impact of debris as large as 1cm in diameter."

NASA uses the incident to stress that spacejunk is an increasing problem

Souces: AFP