The US government accuses Russia of having endangered the safety of astronauts on the International Space Station with a rocket test in space. Russia is said to have tested a rocket in space and destroyed its own satellite, creating a dangerous cloud of debris. "We condemn Russia's ruthless test," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The bombardment produced space debris "which endangers the lives of astronauts, the integrity of the International Space Station and the interests of all nations." The German astronaut Matthias Maurer is currently on the ISS.
The US space agency Nasa joined Blinkens criticism. "I am outraged by this irresponsible and destabilizing approach," said Nasa boss Bill Nelson. "With its long and traditional history in manned space travel, it is inconceivable that Russia would not only endanger the American and international partner astronauts on the ISS, but also its own cosmonauts." The procedure is "inconsiderate and dangerous and also threatens the Chinese space station".
The US armed forces' space command said Monday's test had so far produced more than 1,500 traceable debris in low-earth orbit. Presumably, these would ultimately disintegrate into hundreds of thousands of smaller debris and "remain in orbit for years and possibly decades". This means "a significant risk for the crew of the International Space Station and other manned space activities as well as for the satellites of several countries".
Russia has shown that it deliberately disregards the security, protection, stability and long-term sustainability of space for all nations, criticized US General James Dickinson. "Russia is developing and deploying capabilities to actively deny the United States and its allies and partners access to and use of space."
Astronauts took refuge in spaceships
Because of a possible collision with space debris, the ISS was briefly cleared twice on Monday. According to the Russian state agency Tass, the cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov said that the seven space travelers had in both cases escaped to safety in two spaceships docked at the station. In the event of a collision, the crew could have flown back to Earth so quickly.
According to the European Space Agency Esa, the German astronaut Maurer switched to Elon Musk's Crew Dragon from the private space company SpaceX, with whom he arrived at the ISS on Friday last week.
As confirmed by NASA, the astronauts and cosmonauts initiated "emergency procedures for safety" on the ISS after air traffic control woke them up because of the debris. The hatches to certain modules have been closed. When the ISS flew through the cloud of debris, the astronauts and cosmonauts switched to their spaceships.
Tass reported that the director general of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dmitri Rogozin, will meet with NASA representatives this Tuesday in Moscow. The meeting, which has been scheduled for a long time, will now also deal with the incident on Monday.
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