Roscosmos says International Space Station swerves to dodge fragment of US rocket

Russian space agency Roscosmos has said that the International Space Station (ISS) had to swerve to dodge a fragment of a US rocket.

According to state news agency TASS, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said ''The ISS avoided a conjunction with the US space debris, the Pegasus carrier rocket remnants.''

Thrusters of Progress MS-18 space freighter helped in the readjustment of the station's orbit.

It was dropped by 310 metres (339 yards) for nearly three minutes to avoid a close encounter.

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Due to the debris risk, NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron had to cancel their spacewalk at the ISS.

Earlier, Russia destroyed one of its own satellites during a missile test, generating a cloud of debris that NASA said had "increased the risk to the station."

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The debris cloud forced the seven crew on the ISS to temporarily take shelter in their return ships.

Ever since the incident took place, calls to monitor and regulate space debris, or space junk, have grown.

Space debris consists of discarded launch vehicles or parts of a spacecraft that float around in space and risk colliding with satellites or the ISS.
 

(With inputs from agencies)