There is a threat of space debris that might fly too close to the International Space Station.
A pair of astronauts were supposed to wear space suits, drift out of the International Space Station, and fix a faulty antenna system. The night before, NASA received a "debris notification" for the International Space Station.
It's not clear what the debris notification said, including when or at what distance the debris was expected to pass. NASA didn't respond to Insider's request for more information.
The astronauts will be outside the International Space Station another day.
The spacewalk planned for Tuesday, November 30 has been delayed due to the lack of time to assess the risk to the astronauts.
This isn't the first time space junk has disrupted operations. As old satellites break apart, dead satellites crash into each other, and countries test anti-satellite missiles, the amount of debris in Earth's orbit has increased.
The European Space Agency says that there have been an average of 12 events every year for the last two decades.
NASA's schedule is not the only one that is being messed with by space junk. It's dangerous.
The broken-up satellites and rockets are speeding around the planet at 10 times the speed of a bullet. Several times, space debris has pierced holes in the space laboratory if it strikes theISS.
A piece of debris could be fatal to a spacewalker.
The station had to leave the path of high-risk debris three times in 2020. There was only one such incident this year, when the International Space Station had to avoid a piece of junk.
An unknown piece of space debris punched a hole in the robotic arm of the International Space Station.
The debris field was doubled by Russia's missile test.
It's not clear if Tuesday's space-junk risk is related to the Russian missile test that blew up a satellite. A new cloud of debris was sent out by the anti-satellite test.
The astronauts on the space station had to make an emergency return to Earth if necessary. They returned to normal operations after about two hours in emergency-shelter mode.
A NASA official downplayed the risk of the Russian satellite's debris field during a Monday night press briefing, just hours before the agency announced its spacewalk delay.
"As the space station passed through the debris, we had a heightened, elevated concern for about 24 hours after the event," Dana said. The debris has dispersed a bit more since that time.
It will take a few months to catalog larger bits of debris from the Russian missile test and assess how close they will come to the International Space Station. The amount of space debris near the International Space Station is two times greater than it was before the Russian missile test.
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