# Nine Astronauts Hunker Down as Russian Satellite Shatters in Orbit
Nine astronauts on the International Space Station moved into their docked spacecraft on the evening of June 26, 2024. Space debris from a Russian satellite that had broken apart hours earlier was drifting near the station's orbit.
The crew waited about an hour. Then mission control gave the all-clear. The station was not in the path of the debris cloud. Normal operations resumed.
It was a routine precaution during a not-so-routine event.
How close was the debris?
A Russian Earth observation satellite called Resurs-P1 had shattered in low Earth orbit. The breakup happened at about 12:00 p.m. EDT that day, U.S. Space Command said. The satellite split into over 100 pieces of trackable debris. By the next day, the tracking firm LeoLabs had counted at least 180 fragments. Within a week, that number climbed to at least 250 pieces, with some debris reaching altitudes of 500 kilometers.
The explosion raised immediate concerns for the nine-person crew aboard the space station. The ISS orbits about 250 miles above Earth, not far from where Resurs-P1 had been flying.
Who was on board?
The ISS crew that night included seven core members of Expedition 71 and two NASA astronauts who had just arrived aboard Boeing's Starliner capsule. The nine astronauts were Oleg Kononenko, Tracy Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
Where do astronauts hide during a debris threat?
Two astronauts sheltered in the Boeing Starliner. The rest moved into SpaceX's Crew Dragon and a Russian Soyuz capsule. These docked vehicles serve as lifeboats for the crew in emergencies. The shelter protocol gives astronauts a sealed, armored compartment with its own life support. In the event of a debris strike, the spacecraft can undock and return to Earth.
At approximately 9:00 p.m. EDT, NASA instructed the crew to take shelter. The move was standard procedure after a breakup event, not a sign of imminent danger. No debris was headed directly for the station, U.S. Space Command said. But the cloud was dense enough to warrant caution. Space debris moves at roughly 17,500 miles per hour in low Earth orbit. Even a bolt the size of a marble carries the kinetic energy of a hand grenade at those speeds.
By 10:00 p.m. EDT, mission control cleared the crew to exit their spacecraft. The entire shelter event lasted about 60 minutes.
Why did Resurs-P1 break apart?
What caused the breakup remains unclear. Resurs-P1 was decommissioned in December 2021. The satellite had functioned until September of that year, Russia's Roscosmos agency later confirmed. It stopped boosting its orbit in 2017 and had been slowly drifting lower, expected to burn up in the atmosphere before the end of 2024.
What was Resurs-P1?
Resurs-P1 was part of a series of Russian remote-sensing satellites. The Resurs-P line was designed to replace older Soviet-era reconnaissance platforms with a civilian Earth observation system. Roscosmos planned three satellites in the series. Resurs-P1 launched in June 2013. Resurs-P2 followed in December 2014. Resurs-P3 launched on March 13, 2016 and re-entered Earth's atmosphere in October 2023.
Resurs-P1 featured a high-resolution optical imaging system capable of capturing images with 1-meter resolution in panchromatic mode and 3-4 meters in multispectral bands. The satellite could image a swath 38 kilometers wide as it passed overhead. It carried a hyperspectral sensor with up to 216 spectral channels, allowing scientists to analyze vegetation health, mineral composition and water quality from orbit.
How do we track space debris?
LeoLabs, a U.S. company that tracks space debris with a network of radars, analyzed the event. The debris-generating event was most likely caused by a "low intensity explosion," the company said on July 3, 2024. The blast could have had an internal or external origin. LeoLabs operates radar facilities in New Zealand, Costa Rica, Portugal and Texas. Their systems can track objects as small as 2 centimeters in low Earth orbit, far smaller than the catalog maintained by U.S. Space Command.
Resurs-P1 launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on June 25, 2013, aboard a Soyuz-2-1b rocket. It captured images of Earth for agriculture, weather and transportation monitoring. During its eight years of operation, it orbited about 475 kilometers above the planet in a Sun-synchronous orbit, passing over the same locations on Earth at the same local time each day. This orbit pattern is ideal for comparing changes in crop growth, urban development or disaster response over time.
What happens to the debris now?
The breakup adds to the growing problem of space junk in low Earth orbit. More than 25,000 pieces of debris larger than four inches already circle the planet, according to NASA. Objects larger than one millimeter number in the hundreds of millions. A paint fleck moving at orbital speeds can damage a spacecraft window. The International Space Station itself has sustained micrometeoroid and debris impacts over its more than 25 years in orbit. Its windows have been pitted. Its radiators have been punctured.
The Resurs-P1 debris cloud will slowly lose altitude over weeks and months as atmospheric drag pulls it down. Until then, it poses a risk to other satellites and spacecraft operating in that orbital band. The satellite constellation industry has grown rapidly in recent years. Companies like SpaceX, Amazon and OneWeb have launched thousands of communications satellites into low Earth orbit. More debris means more collision risk for these commercial assets.
Has this happened before?
This was not the first time a Russian satellite breakup has threatened the space station. In November 2021, Russia conducted an anti-satellite missile test that destroyed a defunct satellite called Kosmos-1408. That test created thousands of trackable debris. The seven astronauts aboard the ISS at the time also sheltered in their spacecraft. International space agencies condemned the 2021 test as reckless. The European Space Agency called it "irresponsible." NASA said it endangered the lives of astronauts from multiple countries.
The Resurs-P1 breakup appears to have been accidental. But the result is the same: more debris in an already crowded orbital zone, and more risk for the humans working above our heads.
References
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2024, June 27). ISS crew sheltered Wednesday as precaution. Retrieved from https://www.space.com/iss-astronauts-shelter-return-spacecraft-satellite-breakup
U.S. Space Command. (2024, June 27). Press release: Break-up of Russian-owned space object (Release No. 2024-06-27). Peterson Air Force Base, CO. Retrieved from https://www.spacecom.mil/Newsroom/News/Article-Display/Article/3819238/press-release-break-up-of-russian-owned-space-object/
Thorsberg, C. (2024, June 28). ISS astronauts forced to briefly take shelter as Russian satellite suddenly breaks up in orbit. *Smithsonian Magazine*. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/iss-astronauts-forced-to-briefly-take-shelter-as-russian-satellite-suddenly-breaks-up-in-orbit-180984626/
LeoLabs. (2024, June 27). We are now tracking at least 180 fragments resulting from this event [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/LeoLabs_Space/status/1806431073082958243
Zak, A. (2024, July 3). Resurs-P1 mission. RussianSpaceWeb.com. https://www.russianspaceweb.com/resurs-p1.html
Whitt, K. K. (2024, June 26). Russian satellite breakup sends ISS astronauts to shelter. EarthSky. https://earthsky.org/spaceflight/russian-satellite-breakup-iss-astronauts-shelter-june-26-2024/
Foust, J. (2024, June 27). Russian satellite breaks up, creating debris in low Earth orbit. SpaceNews. https://spacenews.com/russian-satellite-breaks-up-creating-debris-in-low-earth-orbit/
