SpaceX rocket with four astronauts almost hits space debris en route to ISS

The four astronauts on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft narrowly missed an ‘unknown’ object in space hours after launching from Florida, NASA revealed in a video.

The space junk encounter, known as a conjunction, was reported at 1:43pm ET Friday while the crew was preparing to sleep inside the recycled Dragon Crew Capsule as they traveled to the International Space Station (ISS). 

‘For awareness, we have identified a late-breaking possible conjunction with a fairly close miss distance to Dragon,’ SpaceX’s Sarah Gilles told the astronauts.

‘As such, we do need you to immediately proceed with suit donning and securing yourselves in seats.’   

The announcement came within 20 minutes of a possible collision, forcing the crew to suit up and strap in their seats in preparation of an impact that could cause a loss of air pressure.

‘Copy Sarah, you want us in the suit for a possible close call,’Crew-2 astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency radioed back. 

NASA captured the event via a livestream that shows a view of Dragon drifting away from SpaceX’s Falcon 9’s second stage, along with a clear view of the object soaring passed.

The unknown object was initially believed to be an immediate threat to both the crew and craft, but NASA later determined that the space junk passed around 28 miles away at its closest point.

Moments later, Gilles notified the astronauts that the capsule had passed the space junk with no impact.

However, some say if it were to hit the event would have been the worst collision since the 1986 Challenger that blew up on its way to space and killed the  seven astronauts onboard.  

The SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts arrived at the space station on Saturday – a day after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The Dragon capsule docked autonomously with the orbiting outpost more than 260 miles above the Indian Ocean. 

But the four astronauts in the recycled capsule were told to prepare to collide into an unidentified object just seven hours after launching from Kennedy Space Center on Friday, Futurism reported.

The crew was in the pre-sleep period following a long day when Gilles voice was heard over the radio with a warning of a possible impact.

‘The NASA/SpaceX team was informed of the possible conjunction by US Space Command,’ NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told Futurism.

‘The object being tracked is classified as ‘unknown’.’

According to Humphries, there was no time for the astronauts to perform a maneuver to evade the object.

So SpaceX told the astronauts to put on their pressurized suits, strap in their seats and lower their protective visors in case of a collision.

‘The possibility of the conjunction came so close to the closest approach time that there wasn’t time to compute and execute a debris avoidance maneuver with confidence, so the SpaceX team elected to have the crew don their pressure suits out of an abundance of caution,’ Humphries said.

The U.S. Space Command’s 18 Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) said that the Pentagon told NASA of the possible collision about seven hours after the initial launch.

However, upon further analysis, the US Space Command determined it was not a threat.

US Space Command spokesperson Erin Dick said a statement to Daily Mail: ‘Upon further analysis, 18 SPCS quickly determined the potential conjunction between the Crew-2 capsule and the object was an inaccurate report. There was never a collision threat to the Crew-Dragon. 

‘Appropriate notifications were made within minutes and the astronauts safely continued their mission. The 18 SPCS continued to track Crew-2’s progress to the ISS to ensure safe arrival.’ 

‘After further analysis, the 18th Space Control Squadron quickly determined there was no conjunction threat, all aboard are safe and the spacecraft was not at risk.

Humphries said that in hindsight, the unidentified object was 45 kilometers from the spacecraft at its closest point, which was enough to pose a threat of a collision.

Ultimately, ‘there was no real danger to the crew or the spacecraft,’ according to Humphries.

The Dragon capsule docked with the orbiting outpost more than 260 miles above the Indian Ocean, a day after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The new arrivals, representing the U.S, France and Japan, will now spend six months at the space station and will replace four astronauts who will return to Earth in their own Dragon capsule on Wednesday.

It is the first time two SpaceX crew Dragons have been parked in space at the same time.

Shannon Walker, the space station’s commander, said: ‘We are so excited to have you aboard.

Although this was SpaceX’s third crew flight for NASA, it was the first to use a vehicle which has flown before, an essential part of Musk’s push to the moon and Mars.

The Dragon capsule was also used for SpaceX’s first crew launch last May, while the Falcon rocket soaring Friday hoisted crew two in November.

NASA had previously been reliant on Russia’s Soyuz program since its own shuttle program ended in 2011.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur – the commander and pilot of the returning Dragon – monitored their capsule’s flat screen computers as the space station loomed ever larger. 

They could have taken control if necessary, but the autonomous system did its job, much like a self-driving car.

Also checking into the space station was Frenchman Thomas Pesquet and Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide

A NASA spokesman said: ‘Crew-2 joins Expedition 65 crew of crew of Shannon Walker, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, as well as Soichi Noguchi of JAXA and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov.

‘The crew members first opened the hatch between the space station and the pressurized mating adapter at 7:05 a.m. EDT then opened the hatch to Crew Dragon.

‘NASA TV will continue to provide live coverage through the welcoming ceremony with leadership from NASA, ESA and JAXA to greet the crew on station.’

SpaceX boss Elon Musk added: ‘I’m just really proud of the SpaceX team and honoured to be partnered with NASA and helping with Jaxa and ESA as well.

‘It’s very intense, I suppose it does get a little bit easier but it’s still extremely intense

‘I usually can’t sleep the night before launch and that’s true of the night before this one.’

The last time three agencies launched for the ISS from US soil was in 2002 on the Space Shuttle Endeavour. 

French astronaut Pesquet plans to dine in style during his stay and has packed lobster, beef bourguignon, cod with black rice, potato cakes with wild mushrooms and almond tarts with caramelized pears, The New York Times reports.

‘There’s a lot of expectations when you send a Frenchman into space,’ Pesquet said during a European Space Agency news conference last month. ‘I’m a terrible cook myself, but it’s OK if people are doing it for me.’

He and his crewmates will feast on dishes prepared by three separate French culinary institutions, but the meals are only for special occasions.