Dec 9 1991
From The Space Library
AP reported that statistically it was inevitable that astronauts would be obliged to make detours to avoid space junk. It happened twice with-in the previous three months, most recently with Atlantis a week and a half earlier, when it had to dodge 3,200 pounds of rocket debris. Under mission rules adopted after the Challenger explosion in 1986, astronauts must distance themselves from orbiting objects if they are expected to pass within a security zone that is 3.1 miles long, 1.2 miles wide, and 1.2 miles deep. NASA estimated there was one chance in 100,000 that a detectable object would collide with a spacecraft once inside that zone. (AP, Dec 9/91; NY Times, Dec 10/91)
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