Earlier in the day, this “event that generated debris” forced the seven astronauts present in the international spatial station to take refuge in their moored vessels. In the afternoon, they all regained the station.
Le Monde with AFP
The United States condemned, Monday, November 15, the shooting by Russia of an antisatellite missile, at the origin of thousands of debris that threatened the astronauts present in the International Space Station (ISS). “Earlier [Monday], Russia irresponsibly led a direct ascensive anti-censite missile test against one of its own satellites,” said the spokesman for the US State Department. Ned Price, qualifying the Moscow behavior of “dangerous”.
The US military stated, earlier in the day, that it was investigating an “event that generated debris” in space. “The American command for space is aware of an event that generated debris in space. We are actively working to characterize the scope of debris,” a spokesman said.
According to Mr. Price, this shot “generated more than 1,500 orbital debris traceable, and hundreds of thousands of smaller pieces of orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations”. Without wanting to pronounce on possible retaliation measures, he said that the United States would make it clear that they would not tolerate this kind of activity “. In addition, this missile shot “shows that the affirmations of Russia that it opposes the militarization of space are fallacious and hypocritical,” he added.
Seven astronauts from the Iss threatened
The Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, on his side, “the immediate concern concerning the debris, which floats now and could become a danger, including for the International Space Station”. “We look closely with the type of means that Russia seems to want to develop,” he added.
Monday morning, the seven astronauts on board the ISS had taken refuge in their ships moored at the station to prepare for possible evacuation. The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos then declared the astronauts aboard the ISS out of danger, without mentioning a possible missile test. “The orbit of the object, which forced the crew today to go to the ship according to the standard procedures, has moved away from the Orbite of the ISS,” Tweeted Roscosmos. “The resort is now in the green.” “Friends, everything is in order at home. We continue the work according to our program”, has also tweeted the Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov
According to the specialized media Spaceflight Now , the astronauts of the Nasa Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and Tom Marshburn, as well as the astronaut of the European Space Agency Matthias Maurer, had taken refuge in the dragon capsule of Spacex, On board which they arrived there are only a few days ago. The American astronaut Mark Vande Hei and the two Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Piotr Doubrov went to the Soyuz ship. These precautionary measures are part of a start-up procedure of the ISS to join the Earth. All had regained the inside of the ISS in mid-day Monday, according to the same source.
The missile shot from Moscow is a demonstration of force. Such a shot has already been done by four nations in the past, including Russia, and is very criticized, especially because of the many debris generated, which then become dangerous projectiles.