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Space
Space
Science
Mike Wall

NASA satellite's 'shocking' space junk near-miss was even closer than thought

NASA Pam Melroy Earth ISS ESA Russia
Illustration of a spacecraft orbiting earth.

Humanity dodged an orbital bullet recently by an even slimmer margin than we thought. 

In the wee hours of Feb. 28, the dead Russian spy satellite Cosmos 2221 and NASA's TIMED craft, which has been studying Earth's atmosphere since 2001, made an uncomfortably close pass in orbit, zooming within a mere 65 feet (20 meters) of each other.

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