On Monday, the US Space Command announced that it is aware of scattered debris in outer space, stating that it is working to determine the nature of this debris, according to a report from "Al-Hurra." The Space Command mentioned that it is informing countries in anticipation of any potential impact on satellites.
Brian Weeden, director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation, noted that about 18 pieces of orbital debris had been identified by Monday morning, according to the "Houston Chronicle." While he emphasized that "it is still early to determine the causes," Weeden believes that "the launch of a ground rocket or a collision between two large satellites would have created more debris." He added, "This small amount of debris is more consistent with an internal explosion or a collision with a very small piece," indicating that "more debris pieces could possibly be reported."
Meanwhile, the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) revealed via its Twitter account that astronauts aboard the Soyuz and Crew Dragon spacecraft moved away from the debris and are no longer at risk of collision. Russian astronauts were instructed to take shelter in the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft at 10:06 AM Moscow time.
Last Saturday, NASA announced that the International Space Station had regained its orientation in space after losing control for 30 minutes, confirming that the incident posed no threat to the crew.
