ISS Crew May Need to Evacuate; Update With Live Video Feed The All Clear Has Sounded...

**12.45pm Eastern** The all-clear has sounded. The Space Station Crew are safe!

Oh Crap!!!

The three members of Expedition 18 are being prepared for the contingency of “evacuation” into the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the International Space Station (ISS), following a “RED threshold late notice conjunction threat” alert, related to Object “25090 PAM-D” debris.

Tracking of the small piece of debris/MMOD (Micrometeoroid Orbital Debris) was initially classed as a low threat of collision with the ISS. However, latest tracking suggests the threat is red.

As a contingency, NASA’s Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, Russian Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov, and NASA’s Sandra Magnus may be asked to “evacuate” into the Russian Soyuz, which would serve as their means of departing from the Station - should it be required.

Updating the current status of the threat, several memos - acquired by L2 - relay the probability level of the conjunction, with the latest noting “It’s now in the red threshold and if it doesn’t improve between now and TCA (Time of Closest Approach) at 11:39am CDT today they will put the crew in the Soyuz per the rules.”

Source: NASA Spaceflight

I am listening to the mission audio, and will update when I know more...right now, it is mostly in Russian, and the English audio is concerning with the crew closing various hatches and valves in preparation for the evacuation of the space station should it be necessary.

Here is a live video feed from the Space Station that seems to be mostly audio for now:

The Event is Over and I have removed the video player
Listen to NASA TV
Click "Live Space Station Videos" in menu on right of the NASA PAge.