Live in Orbit: Station to dodge space junk

During a 15-minute shuttle engine firing at 8:30 p.m. EDT, the International Space Station and shuttle Endeavour will be raised to an orbit that is about one mile higher.

NASA officials are moving the spacecraft from the path of some unknown space junk, of which there are some 10,000 pieces orbiting the Earth.

"It has met our criteria to do an avoidance maneuver," Paul Dye, lede STS-127 flight director, said. "We don't know what it is, but it's big enough that we're concerned about it."

The U.S. government carefully tracks all pieces of abandoned space hardware and orbiting garbage to avoid collisions.