Space debris passes just over a mile from the Discovery

The remains of a European Ariane rocket rose to 1.3 miles of the shuttle Discovery docked at the International Space Station, without its being a threat to the ships or the 13 astronauts who live there, according to NASA.

The U.S. space agency said the piece of rocket went from left to right above the ISS.

"The mission control team continues to observe the remains (Ariane), but these went as expected and are no longer of concern to the orbiting complex," said spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier Lemasters NASA.

Discovery and the ISS coupled orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at about 27,000 kilometers per hour at an altitude of about 385 miles.

The remains of the rocket, the Ariane 5 precisely, sent into space in 2006 for placement into orbit two communications satellites, passed by the orbiting complex at about 1407 GMT, the U.S. space agency said.

NASA watched for days the approximation of space debris to make sure not collide with the ISS and Discovery. A more dangerous form of litter would have required a move to escape through the engine on Discovery.