A decommissioned Russian satellite broke apart in low Earth orbit Wednesday, creating more than 100 pieces of debris and causing the crew of the International Space Station to briefly take shelter, U.S. space agencies said.
RESURS-P1, which NASA said was a Russian observation satellite, broke up around noon EDT, according to a release from U.S Space Command. “USSPACECOM has observed no immediate threats and is continuing to conduct routine conjunction assessments to support the safety and sustainability of the space domain,” the release said.
But the event adds that much more space junk to a sky already rapidly filling up with flying chunks of machinery, frozen coolant, and other fragments. And some of it comes down.
A family in Naples, Florida, is filing a claim against NASA for damages to their home after a chunk of space debris from the International Space Station tore through their roof earlier this year. NASA confirmed last week that a large chunk of debris found along a North Carolina trail last May came from a SpaceX Dragon rocket, according to the Charlotte Observer, and an NC resident in the next county heard a piece bouncing off his house.