- A space debris threat forced the 7-member crew of the International Space Station to take cover.
- It is unclear what caused the sudden appearance of the potentially dangerous debris.
- The US military said it is aware of a "debris-generating event," but did not explain further.
The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) was forced to take shelter in their evacuation spacecrafts early Monday morning in response to a threat posed by the sudden appearance of potentially dangerous debris.
US astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, and Kayla Barron and Germany's Matthias Maurer took shelter in the Crew Dragon spacecraft, while Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Pyotr Dubrov and US astronaut Mark Vande Hei sheltered inside a Soyuz ship, Russian state-media reported.
The incident was acknowledged by Russia's Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities in a social media post, which said the space station has moved away from the object.
-РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) November 15, 2021
It is still unclear what caused the debris, though the US is concerned about a Russian anti-satellite weapons test, two US officials told CNN.
In a public statement on the debris, US Space Command said simply that it "is aware of a debris-generating event in outer space."
It added only that it "is actively working to characterize the debris field and will continue to ensure all space-faring nations have the information necessary to maneuver satellites if impacted."
Insider reached out to the Department of Defense for further comment but has not yet received a response.
Anti-satellite weapons testing generates debris with the destruction of a satellite, and it can linger for a long time. Just last week, for instance, The New York Times reported that the ISS had to maneuver to avoid a piece of space junk generated by a 2007 anti-satellite weapon test conducted by China.