Crew forced out of space station as debris floats close

NASA said it did not notice the debris until Friday,too little time to put more distance between the station and the trajectory of the debris. While NASA expected the debris to pass by safely,the six astronauts were ordered into the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

NASA said it could not determine the size of the debris. Even small amounts of debris,however,can pose a danger to the 450-ton space station; the space station and the satellite debris were traveling at speeds of 17,500 miles an hour,NASA said.

Saturdays episode underscored a recent report by the National Research Council,a nonprofit group,warning that the increasing amount of space debris is threatening to make low-Earth orbit unusable because of the potential for collisions.

The US Space Surveillance Network is tracking more than 22,000 objects larger than 4 inches in size,NASA said,with about 1,000 being some form of spacecraft and the rest being classified as debris. Most of the debris floats within 1,250 miles,or low orbit,of the planet.