John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the most immediate concern was the space debris. But all objects in low-Earth orbit - including China’s three-person space station and even the Hubble Space Telescope - will be at “somewhat enhanced risk” over the next few years, he noted. The space station is at especially high risk because the test occurred near its orbit, McDowell said. The fragments will begin to spread out over time, due to atmospheric drag and other forces, he said in an email. Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said it will take days if not weeks and months to catalogue the latest wreckage and confirm their orbits. Until Monday, the Space Command already was tracking some 20,000 pieces of space junk, including old and broken satellites from around the world. in 2008 and India in 2019 were conducted at much lower altitudes, well below the space station. While it later was dismissed as a risk, NASA had the station move anyway.Īnti-satellite missile tests by the U.S. One of those pieces threatened to come dangerously close to the space station last week. NASA had made no comment by late afternoon, and there was no word late Monday from Russia about the missile strike.Ī similar weapons test by China in 2007 also resulted in countless debris. Space Command said it was tracking the field of orbiting debris. “It was certainly a great way to bond as a crew, starting off with our very first work day in space,” he said. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who’s midway through a yearlong mission, called it “a crazy but well-coordinated day” as he bid Mission Control good night. Four of the seven crew members arrived at the orbiting outpost Thursday night. NASA Mission Control said the heightened threat from the debris might continue for another couple days and continue to interrupt the astronauts’ science research and other work. has “repeatedly raised with Russian counterparts our concerns for a potential satellite test”. “We are going to continue to make very clear that we won’t tolerate this kind of activity,” Price said. Something big, upon impact, could be catastrophic. But countless other fragments were too small to track, yet still posed a danger to the space station as well as orbiting satellites.Įven a fleck of paint can do major damage when orbiting at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph). It was irresponsible,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.Įarlier Monday, the four Americans, one German and two Russians on board were forced to briefly seek shelter in their docked capsules because of the debris.Īt least 1,500 pieces of the destroyed satellite were sizable enough to show up on radar and with telescopes, Price said. The State Department confirmed that the debris was from an old Russian satellite destroyed by the missile strike. (AP) - A Russian weapons test created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk that is now threatening the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station, U.S.
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