ISS crew took shelter inside Soyuz spacecraft under the threat of ISS collision with space debris.

Russian Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov  and American astronaut Mark Vande Hei working aboard the International space station took shelter inside Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft while space debris was passing close to the ISS.

Institute for Space Politics Head Ivan Moiseyev explains why  Soyuz is safe than the ISS in case of space debris passing.

“The fact is that the station is of modular design, in case of space debris collision   there is a high chance of depressurization. Staying inside Soyuz is safer since it enables to undock from the station and head to Earth”, – he explained.

Space debris on the Earth orbit are fragments of old rockets and satellites. Quite frequently space debris and micrometeorites collide   with the ISS but without serious consequences.

“Such collisions happened and were documented. There are traces of collisions with space debris and micrometeorites  on large surfaces of the station such as solar arrays and radiators but they are resistant to them”, – he assured.

The latest debris avoidance maneuver ISS had to perform on November 10 to avoid collision with the fragment of Chinese Fengyun-1C satellite.