International Space Station moved in orbit to avoid collision with space debris

International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday was moved away in orbit on Tuesday in order to avoid collision with space debris. NASA said that the ISS carried out a '150 second reboost' to avoid 'unknown' space debris. As per NASA's calculations, the space debris was to pass by the ISS at a distance of 1.39 km, an extremely short range in space.

Currently, there are 3 astronauts at the ISS. NASA instructed them, 'out of abundance of caution', to move to the Russian section of the ISS closer to Soyuz spacecraft. This would have helped to extract the astronauts safely in case of any emergency.

ISS is currently orbiting the earth at the speed of 27,568km/h (17,130 mph). At this speed, even a small object can create damage to ISS, repair work of which is a costly affair going up to the tune of millions of dollars.

NASA stressed that there was no danger to the astronauts.

The issue with space debris

Space debris is a huge impediment in space exploration. According to Daily Mail, there are 160 million pieces of debris around Earth. These include large objects like defunct, old satellite and also small in dimensions of a few centimeters. But all of them are capable of causing great damage to satellites that are functioning.

Amid global calls for comprehensive action to control space debris, UK announced funding for clean up of the space through its space agency UKSA.

The £1 million funding (around $12,96,880) will be used to clear space debris, even though no concrete way to remove it has been formulated yet.