Newsblast Archive Dateline: Oct. 26, 1999

NASA flight controllers had to move the space station to avoid a spent Pegasus rocket this week.

The U.S. Space Command, which tracks orbiting objects, notified NASA that they needed to move their station.

"Aw, MAN!" responded NASA. "Can it wait till halftime?"

NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said the maneuver went well, but commented "What'd I miss? What'd I miss?" as he ran back into the living room.

Before the move, the space station was in an orbit 230 miles by 247 miles high. Despite complaints of "moving it will take forever," by NASA, the station was moved to 15 miles away from the path of the space junk.

Herring reports that his dog Tootsie did not eat any of the pizza while he was out of the room.

The U.S. Space Command reported, "NASA will just have to learn to put everything where it goes in the first place. Then they won't have to move it."