Astronauts shelter from space debris

Wednesday 29 June 2011 00:00 BST

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Mission control ordered the crew of the International Space Station into their Soyuz capsules yesterday after a close call with a piece of space debris.

Controllers wanted to keep the six astronauts safe as the unidentified object passed within 800ft of the station.

The two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese crew were in the capsules for little over 30 minutes.

The astronauts could have undocked in their two Soyuz capsules and returned to Earth had there been a serious collision.

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Astronauts shelter from space debris

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