Space junk is an issue that astronauts and space missions face today. Space is filled with junk, leftover from rocket launches as well as failed satellites. Today, there are nearly 2,000 working satellites in space and more than 3,000 failed ones, and the number will continue to increase.

Recently, space junk put seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in danger. They are four Americans, one German and two Russians. The threat forced them to stay in their return capsules and they could not do their usual work. NASA says the situation could continue for a few more days.

The space junk came too close to the ISS many times as the ISS goes around Earth 16 times a day. So, the astronauts had to keep closing and reopening many compartments (rooms) of the ISS.

The reason

NASA said that the space junk is due to an anti-satellite missile that Russia was trying out from Earth. Russia had tested out the missile on one of its own satellites. However, it created a lot of debris (junk) which put the crew on the ISS in danger.

 

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