A space missile fired by Russia on one of its satellites in a weapons test generated an orbital debris field that endangered the International Space Station. The seven crew members of the space station – four US astronauts, one German astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts – were invited to take refuge in the capsules of their docked spaceship for two hours after the test as a precaution, allowing for a quick escape if necessary. , NASA said.
It looks like an episode of Star Wars and instead it is what would have happened in space. Russia has not confirmed the test, but the US is furious and speaks of a “reckless and dangerous act”. According to the US, Russia has tested a direct ascent anti-satellite missile, which hit the Russian satellite and created the rain of debris in the lower Earth orbit: “More than 1,500 pieces of traceable orbital debris have already been set in motion and probably hundreds of thousands smaller ones will be unleashed, ”thundered the State Department.
Russia made the test despite repeated American warnings that this kind of test could pose a risk not only to the satellites, but to the astronauts themselves. “Dangerous, reckless, irresponsible”: the adjectives used in Washington are wasted. The same Russian agency Roscosmos found how the debris rain found astronauts and cosmonauts finding refuge as the ISS crossed the debris field.
Satellites are the tools that provide people all over the world with invaluable services, from telephone and broadband services to weather forecasts, including GPS systems and radio and satellite television communications. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said he was “indignant”: “It is incredible that Russia endangers not only American astronauts and those of international partners on the ISS, but also their own cosmonauts”.
There are currently seven astronauts on the ISS, Americans Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron; together with the Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov and the German Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency. The debris “will remain in orbit for years and decades”, putting the ISS crew and other human spaceflight activities at “significant risk”, but also the satellites of “more countries”, thundered Us Space Command.
The command of the US army now makes it known that it will “monitor the trajectory” of the fragments and that “it will work to ensure that all countries that have an interest in space have the information necessary for their activities in orbit if hit by the cloud of debris”, service – adds the note published on the Us Space Com website – that “the United States supplies the world, including Russia and China”.