NASA says that the International Space Station (ISS) shifted its orbit on Tuesday to avoid a piece of debris.

The debris avoidance maneuver involved firing thrusters on the ISS at 2:09 p.m. CT for 5 minutes, 31 seconds, according to NASA. This adjustment raised the ISS orbit to "provide an extra margin of distance from a piece of orbital debris from a defunct defense meteorological satellite that broke up in 2015," the agency says.

Had the maneuver had not been conducted, the debris would have come within nearly 2.5 miles of the station, NASA also says. The debris was "small," U.S. Space Forces-Space tells NPR.

NASA says that agency and other ISS partners were made aware of the "potential conjunction risk" on Sunday. The agency, along with the U.S. Space Force and other partners, monitored the debris before deciding to carry out the maneuver, NASA says.

The time required to move the ISS away from space debris depends on many factors, the agency tells NPR, adding that NASA and its partners "can respond within a few hours if required to mitigate the risk of a potential collision."