During the recent successful launch of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, the crew had a close run-in with an unidentified object. While en route to the International Space Station at around 13:30 EST, the object, as yet unknown at the time of writing, came within a cat's whisker of the craft (on the scale of the universe).
Initially believed to be an immediate threat to the crew and craft, the object was later determined to be around 28 miles (45 km) away at its closest point. Thankfully the Dragon spacecraft and the object passed each other safely, and the SpaceX craft is now safely on its way to its final destination.
“The NASA/SpaceX team was informed of the possible conjunction by US Space Command,” NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told Futurism. “The object being tracked is classified as ‘unknown.'”
According to Humphries, the threat was very real at the time, and with no time to plan and perform evasive maneuvers, the crew was ordered to put on their pressurized suits — just in case.
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