CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Next month’s shuttle flight to the Hubble Space Telescope faces an increased risk of a destructive hit by space junk because it will be in a higher, more littered orbit than usual, NASA said Monday.
Managers in the highest levels of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will need to sign off on the mission because of the increased risk.
New number-crunching puts the chances of a catastrophic strike by orbital debris including bits of space junk at about 1-in-185 during Atlantis’ upcoming mission to Hubble. That compares with 1-in-300 odds for a shuttle flight to the international space station, shuttle program director John Shannon said Monday.
Seven astronauts will be aboard the spaceship, which is scheduled to launch Oct. 10.
