NASA Cancels Spacewalk on International Space Station Due to Deadly Space Debris | Scientific and technological news

NASA has canceled a spacewalk due to the threat of dangerous space debris.

Two American astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, were scheduled to replace an external antenna on Tuesday.

However, the expedition was called off when Mission Control discovered that orbiting space debris had come dangerously close to the station.

Debris has the potential to puncture an astronaut’s suit or severely damage the ISS, meaning it cannot be ignored.

There was not enough time to assess the threat, so station directors delayed the spacewalk until Thursday.

This is the first time that a spacewalk has been canceled due to the threat of space debris.

Space station and its seven-person crew at increased risk of debris orbiting from Russia destroy a satellite during a missile test two weeks ago.

Crew members were forced to hide in their moored capsules for fear of a collision with some 1,700 pieces of satellite large enough to be tracked.

NASA officials said the Nov. 15 missile test also created thousands of other dangerous debris, too small to be seen from the ground but likely to damage satellites.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Russia, adding that they had endangered their own cosmonauts aboard the ISS, as well as the three people on the Chinese space station.

NASA said Mr Marshburn and Ms Barron face a 7% increased risk of perforation per spacewalk due to debris generated by Russia.

But they said it was still within acceptable limits based on previous experience.