Debris May Have Hit Space Station

Thursday, November 27, 2003

(6:07 AM ET)

By Vladimir Isachenkov

Associated Press Writer

A spokesman for the Russian Space Forces, which focuses on monitoring the Russian satellite fleet, but also keeps track of the space station, said that the station had collided with a piece of space junk.

MOSCOW -- AP
The U.S.-Russian crew of the international space station heard a grinding sound as if an object had scraped its outer surface, but Russian space officials said Thursday that the men were safe and there was no immediate sign of any damage.

A space official said the sound might have been produced by equipment on the station, but a spokesman for Russia's Space Forces attributed the noise to a brush with floating space junk.

Valery Lyndin, a spokesman for Mission Control outside Moscow, said that ``all the station's systems are working normally'' after the sound was reported early Wednesday. An inspection of the station's outer surface by outside cameras found no sign of damage, he told The Associated Press.

Sergei Gorbunov, a spokesman for the Russian Aerospace Agency, said on NTV television that the crew heard what ``sounded as if a tin can was being crushed,'' but the ensuing check had found no trace of impact.

``The check made by the crew found no changes either in the equipment section or the atmosphere of the station, which would have changed instantly if the station's skin were punctured,'' Gorbunov said.

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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan