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No danger to ISS from Chinese satellite debris - Russian expert

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Debris from a satellite destroyed by a Chinese missile does not threaten the International Space Station, a Russian space official said Friday.
MOSCOW, February 2 (RIA Novosti) - Debris from a satellite destroyed by a Chinese missile does not threaten the International Space Station, a Russian space official said Friday.

China announced last month it used a ground-based ballistic missile to hit one of its aging weather satellites, Fen Yung-IC, January 11.

"We are diverting the orbit of the ISS to prevent a possible collision with large fragments of space debris, a decision the Russian Mission Control took together with the Johnson Space Center in Houston," a Mission Control spokesman said.

The expert also said an anti-meteorite system protected the station from minor fragments. He said the satellite's orbit had been 800 kilometers (500 miles) higher than that of the ISS when it was destroyed, but that some of its fragments were descending under the influence of the Earth's gravity.

The expert said both Russia and the U.S. were tracking the debris.

The Chinese test caused an international uproar. The U.S. filed a diplomatic protest, as the test represented a menace to its spy satellites, which have approximately the same orbits as meteorological spacecraft.

Other countries, including Canada, Australia and Japan, also expressed concerns, although China claimed the test was not military in nature.

American experts said they were tracking 525 large fragments from the Chinese satellite, and have registered 500-600 instances of debris passing within five kilometers (three miles) of orbiting satellites.

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