Crew returns to space station from escape module

WASHINGTON — The crew of the international space station had a close call with space junk today.

The three astronauts briefly took refuge inside a Russian escape capsule before returning inside the space station. Officials moved them into the capsule because they were worried that the orbiting outpost might get hit with a piece of passing space junk.

“We’ve cleared,“ station commander Mike Fincke radioed to Mission Control in Houston as he prepared to go back inside.

The debris measured about a third of an inch, part of a motor that helped boost a satellite into the proper orbit, said NASA spokesman Kyle Herring. Tiny pieces of debris could cause a fatal loss of air pressure in the station.

NASA usually tries to move the space station out of the way of space junk, but they got this warning Wednesday night when it was too late to move the station, Herring said.

Instead, NASA sent the crew to the Soyuz capsule, a move that has been done in the past, Herring said. A Soyuz capsule is parked at the space station to serve as a lifeboat if needed for the station’s residents.

The piece of debris was expected to come within the 2.8 mile box of space around the station that makes up NASA’s danger zone, Herring said.

“We were looking out the Soyuz window,“ Fincke radioed to Houston. “We didn’t see anything of course. We were wondering how close we were.“

Fincke is one of two Americans living aboard the space station; the third resident is Russian.