NASA officials called off a Tuesday spacewalk late Monday night for two of the agency's astronauts after receiving warnings that nearby space debris could endanger the crew. The International Space Station has had to make a number of changes since Russia blew up one of its old satellites.
The spacewalk planned for Tuesday, November 30 has been delayed due to the lack of time to assess the risk to the astronauts.
Two astronauts who arrived at the orbital outpost earlier this month were scheduled to scale the laboratory's exterior at 7:10 a.m. The time is Eastern on Tuesday. They replaced a broken communications antenna in about six hours.
NASA did not say where the debris came from, and a spokeswoman did not answer questions about it. The spacewalk was changed to Thursday.
Mark Vande Hei checked in with mission control in Houston after waking up to the news that the spacewalk had been canceled.
A NASA official in Houston apologized to Mr. Vande Hei over the ground-to-space channel. We are almost as disappointed as the crew members are, but I know it is difficult for you guys to wake up to this news.
Mr. Vande Hei said he was glad people were looking out for his safety.
Thousands of untraceable smithereens were created when Russia struck a Soviet-era satellite with an antisatellite missile. The U.S. Space Command said that the space station could be in danger because of the widening field of hazardous space debris.
The debris cloud from the Russian satellite strike came very close to the space station, which housed a crew of seven astronauts, including two from Russia. The NASA astronauts were woken up by a NASA official in Houston who told them to take shelter in their spaceship. The crew kept the station closed for a few days after the incident, and then opened it when the danger had passed.
There are about 1,700 new objects that are being tracked by the space station, according to the deputy manager of the space station. It will take a few months to catalog all of those items and then we can assess how close these items are to the I.S.S.
The background debris environment for the space station was doubled by the Russian weapon test. The risk to spacewalking astronauts was raised by about 7 percent. She said that the risk calculations for past spacewalks are similar to those within the family.
The Russian missile test drew condemnation from other countries, including Australia, Canada and Britain.
The administrator of NASA said that it was "pitiful" that the Russians would do this.
The White House will convene the first meeting of the National Space Council during the Biden administration. The Senate Commerce Committee sent a letter to the council on Monday, urging Vice President Harris to act on the Russian antisatellite test and to work to develop international dialogue on norms of responsible behavior in space.
There have been a dozen spacewalks this year, many of which added new components and solar panels to the space station. The 21-year-old orbital laboratory is expected to be kept running until 2030. The station has already shown signs of its age, like cracks and air leaks, that were discovered on a key module in 2019.
