Crew members aboard the ISS scrambled into an emergency exit craft as stray debris from a forgotten Russian satellite surprised NASA. The debris was only noticed on Friday, which evidently did not give the monitoring team enough time to create a sizable distance between the ISS and the scrap. NASA couldn’t even determine the exact size of the debris, although any small amount can jeopardize the entire craft.

Astounde covered the story of the incredible threat posed by space junk in this article in mid-February. Swiss scientists are currently designing a project called Clean Space One to help alleviate this problem. The article is a fascinating read if you hadn’t heard of it yet. Hopefully the hard working scientists can get Clean Space One implemented soon, as the lives of the six crew members onboard are too valuable to be left to chance.

The first man-made object to reach space occurred on October 3rd, 1942 by German scientists during WWII. In the seventy years since, thousands of objects have reached orbit including designated phone and television satellites, weather monitors, and of course astronauts. Many objects served their purpose, but many others malfunctioned or became unresponsive and were left to forever circle the Earth.

Objects currently orbiting the Earth include abandoned satellites, used rockets, fragments of spacecraft, and random debris from past collisions. There are now over 500,000 pieces of space junk zipping around the Earth at over 17,500 miles per hour.