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Space Junk Scare

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — The six space station astronauts are safe after a close call with a piece of space junk.

Mission Control ordered the crew of the International Space Station into their Soyuz capsules on Tuesday to keep them safe from a piece of orbiting debris. The unidentified object was predicted to pass within 240 meters.

Mission Control gave the all clear after a few minutes, and the three Russians, two Americans and one Japanese astronaut returned to the station.

The astronauts could have undocked in their two Soyuz capsules and returned to Earth in the case of a serious collision.

(AP)

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