Destroyed Chinese satellite close to ISS: official

Debris from a satellite destroyed in 2007 by a Chinese missile is in the vicinity of the International Space Station and astronauts are ready to take cover if required, a Russian official said Friday. The shooting down of the Chinese weather satellite Feng Yun 1C by a ground missile launched from China at the time sparked international alarm and concern about the creation of dangerous space debris. "If the calculations show that the debris is approaching the station at an unacceptably close range, the six astronauts will receive the order to take shelter in the two Russian Soyuz spacecraft which are docked with the ISS," an official at mission control outside Moscow told the Interfax news agency. More

(Source: AFP - Jul 25)