ISS dodges its 39th piece of potentially hazardous space junk. Experts say it won't be the last.

The International Space Station at the center of the image with Earth in the background.

On Nov. 19, the International Space Station (ISS) dodged a potentially dangerous piece of space junk left in orbit from a satellite that broke up in 2015.

The maneuver, which involved the ISS raising its usual orbit of about 250 miles (440 kilometers) above Earth's surface, was the first of its kind in 2024. Without it, NASA officials said the flying object could have come within a perilously close 2.5 miles (4 km) of the space station.