ATV-5 approaching Station in August. Credits: Roscosmos-O. Artemyev

ATV-5 approaching Station in August. Credits: Roscosmos-O. Artemyev

Just two weeks after ATV Georges Lemaîtres moved the International Space Station out of the way of a potentially dangerous piece of space debris, the international partners that run the Station asked ATV-5 to do it again.

The ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France, received a warning from NASA yesterday about a piece of debris from a Yaogan satellite. The debris is small but well tracked and was considered a high concern.

The threat was later confirmed and the ATV Control Centre teams issued a Predetermined Debris Avoidance Manoeuvre pushing the International Space Station to increase its speed by 0.5 m/s.

ATV Georges Lemaître thruster’s succesfuly executed the urgent avoidance earlier today.