Former NASA shuttle astronaut George Zamka discussed space debris as an issue at a House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee on Friday. Blockbuster movie, Gravity, very well depicted what space debris can do to satellites and spacecraft while hissing around earth, said Zamka.

Zamka who oversees mitigation of space debris shared, "During my two space missions, we flew upside down and backwards to protect our shuttle windows from orbital debris. And even doing that, we had debris strikes and cracks in our windows".

Massive pieces of space debris whiz around the planet and acts as a danger to the International Space Station and satellites that have to reposition themselves to remain safe.

The Air Force tracks space junk issues by giving on an average 1,400 of alerts every day warning satellite operators of a possible collision. Situations do arise when crew members aboard the space station had to take shelter their spacecraft due to little late warning.

As per Zamka, the space debris poses maximum risk to human space flight. The problem is expected to get worse with rise in commercial space interest and more number of countries planning to launch vehicles and payloads into space.

Now, 11 other countries have the ability to launch vehicles and payloads into space. Experts known to the matter wants solution as soon as possible. GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, a member of the panel said, the debris issue needs to be taken seriously as has the potential to limit humankind's ability to use space. With passage of time, we are reaching to a point of saturation, said Dana.