Space debris has hit the ISS, causing damage.

[KGIII]

This was something that was 100% certain to happen given enough time. Though the mass of these items may be low, the speed is incredibly high and so they carry a whole lot of energy. An object the size of a US quarter is quite a risk when it's moving at 20k mph (~32k kph).

This eventuality was known and prepared for, but it's a good time to think about 'space junk' and how much of a problem it's going to be in the future.

Space Debris Has Hit And Damaged The International Space Station

The inevitable has occurred.

www.sciencealert.com

 

[Brickwizard]

to be expected with all the junk of the last 60 yrs whizzing around

 

[f33dm3bits]

That's BS, it's a coverup from Aliens trying to make first contact(Sarcasm mode).

 

[Brickwizard]

Aliens trying to make first contact

I hope they remembered their Babel fish

 

[KGIII]

There have been some proposals and even some trials to deal with space junk (sometimes called space debris). Getting the crap out of near-Earth orbit is important. The atmosphere is pretty good at slowing things down and newer satellites are supposed to be able to de-orbit themselves, but it's going to be a continued problem for the foreseeable future.

I think it was the Japanese that wanted to harpoon space junk. I'm not sure how far they got with that one.