Orbiting Debris May Reroute NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery Space
junk may force NASA and the International Space Station team to
move the ISS, creating a slight detour for the space shuttle
Discovery. The debris is likely to pass near the ISS on March
17, just one day before Discovery is scheduled to dock with the
ISS. Busted up spacecraft pieces continue to grow. Multiple
launch postponements have plagued the latest space shuttle
Discovery mission, but the eight-man spacecraft finally got
underway March 15 for a 14-day assignment to the ISS
(International Space Station). Now, though, traffic reports
indicated Discovery may have to reroute in order to avoid
orbiting space debris. According to NASA, a breakaway piece of a
Russian satellite is likely to come close to the ISS on March
17, just one day before the Discovery is scheduled to dock at
the orbiting platform. If the debris comes close enough to the
ISS, NASA engineers will slightly move the ISS and force
Discovery to recalculate its own path to the ISS.