NASA: Space station won't need to duck space junk

Computerworld - After a piece of space junk hurtling toward the International Space Station had NASA on alert, mission control decided today that the station crew wouldn't have to dodge the debris after all.

The decision came the same day as two astronauts prepare to take the second spacewalk of the space shuttle Discovery's mission to bring supplies and equipment to the station. Today's spacewalk is set to begin at 5:19 p.m. EDT with astronauts Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang set to install a new ammonia tank to replace the spent one that was removed in a spacewalk Tuesday.

NASA spotted the space debris Wednesday afternoon. The space agency described it as a 19-square-meter piece of an Ariane 5 rocket body, which is expected to pass about three kilometers from the space station late Friday morning.

This isn't the space station's first brush with space junk getting a little too close for comfort.

In March, space junk came close enough to the space station to pose a potential risk to the crew and the orbiter three times in a little more than a week. The last time the space shuttle Discovery was docked with the space station, the two crafts had to move out of the path of a four-inch piece of a Chinese satellite that was moving quickly toward them.

And just before that, two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut onboard the space station were forced to seek shelter in a "lifeboat" capsule when a piece of an old rocket motor came hurtling dangerously close to the orbiting outpost.

Later in March, NASA told Computerworld that a February collision of Iridium and Russian communication satellites and the destruction in 2000 of a Chinese satellite are the likely sources of much of the space debris that has been hurtling precariously close to the space station.

The current space junk issue won't deter the astronauts from making their spacewalk today. Aided by the robotic arm onboard the space station, the astronauts are scheduled to install the new ammonia tank, which helps to cool the interior of the station.

The mission's third and final walk is set for Saturday.

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