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[i]The six-member crew of the International Space Station was told to get a few hours sleep Friday while flight controllers continued to assess the trajectory of a piece of space debris that was expected to pass close by the lab complex at 10:48 p.m. EST. The crew was told to be prepared to take refuge aboard the lab's two three-seat Soyuz lifeboats if the analysis indicated a clear threat. But late Friday, flight controllers gave the crew a more upbeat report, saying "the news is getting better." "We've had two more sites that have tracked the object and they're indicating it is not a valid threat," Ricky Arnold told the crew from mission control in Houston shortly before 5:30 p.m. "Though due to the uncertainty, we'd like to take the opportunity to get more data in about an hour, we've got another pass that we'll get a look at it. We'd like to have you guys go to bed and we'll wake you a 0300 (GMT; 10 p.m. EST) as planned, even if it's just to tell you to go back to sleep. We don't know when the analysis is going to get in." "OK, that sounds good," replied station commander Frank De Winne, a European Space Agency astronaut. "So we'll wake up at 0300 and we'll get further words at that moment if we will proceed to our Soyuzes and closing the hatches, or if you want us to just go back to sleep." "That's a great plan and we thank you guys for the late night and all your hard work," Arnold said. "Hopefully we'll be waking you up here in a few hours with some good news."[/i]
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