Part 5/11:
Historical incidents underscore the hazards of space debris. The 2009 collision between the Iridium 33 communication satellite and a defunct Russian satellite was particularly impactful, generating thousands of new fragments. Such events forced the International Space Station to repeatedly shift positions to avoid debris clouds, endangering astronauts and complicating space operations. This illustrates that space debris is not only a problem for unmanned satellites but also a direct threat to human spaceflight.