Astronomers laud NASA's plan to protect the space environment, but the agency needs to act fast to make a difference.

The Feb. 28 encounter between NASA's TIMED satellite and a dead Russian spacecraft was even closer than first thought — a mere 33 feet (10 meters) or so, NASA officials said.

A Nasa spacecraft’s near collision with a Russian satellite in February could have been much more disastrous than previously thought. Nasa’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Mission (Timed) spacecraft launched in 2001 was in danger of colliding with the Russian satellite Cosmos 2221 on 28 February.

Russian space debris almost collides with a NASA satellite. The incident highlights the risks of a rising number of space junk.