The US State Department has accused Russia of testing space anti-satellite weapons. According to Washington, Moscow was testing the latest developments and this created a threat to the International Space Station.
US Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price said the United States, together with partners, will work out joint steps “to respond to these irresponsible actions.”
“Russia has recklessly carried out a devastating test,” Price said.
According to him, the result was the appearance of “more than 1,500 debris”, which are now under observation, as well as hundreds of thousands of small fragments. Testing such weapons increases the danger to astronauts and cosmonauts, he added.
Earlier, Roskosmos, citing data from the American Mission Control Center, reported that the orbital station approached the corridor of “possible rapprochement with a space debris object.” The ISS crew transferred to the Soyuz and Crew Dragon spacecraft due to a potential threat. At the same time, NASA stated that the risk of collision is “very small.”
The crew of the station, in turn, reported that no signs of collision with space debris were recorded during the two encounters.
Last week it was reported that on the night of November 12, a fragment of China’s meteorological satellite Fengyun-1C was supposed to fly 600 meters from the station. To avoid a collision, the ISS orbit was raised 1200 meters.
Read the material: “The cosmonaut told about the most dangerous approach of space debris with the ISS”
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