The international spatial station has been disturbed by a cloud of debris caused by the destruction of the spacecraft. The operation was strongly criticized by the United States and France.
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Launched in the space in 1982, in the middle of the cold war, Cosmos-1408 was a former Soviet satellite surveillance, a beautiful beast of 2.2 tons which sailed 465 kilometers above our heads. Like all large bodies evolving in orbit, it was followed by radar. Monday, November 15, Cosmos-1408 was not suddenly visible on the screens. In the place have appeared some 1,500 additional objects of at least 10 centimeters in diameter, a cloud of debris starting to scatter in space.
The first consequence was an alert aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which is 424 kilometers above sea level and whose trajectory approached the debris of Cosmos-1408. These could moult in dangerous projectiles, given the very high speeds to which spacecraft advance. The seven current occupants of the ISS – Four Americans, two Russians and a German – immediately applied the emergency procedures. First by closing most airlocks that connect the different elements of the station, in order to avoid total depressurization in case one of them would be pierced, then going to shelter in the Two vessels that are stowed at the ISS, the Russian Soyuz (three people) and the American Spacex “Crew Dragon” (four astronauts). They stayed there for two hours, ready to get off from the station.
Tuesday, November 16, Russia acknowledged that they voluntarily destroyed Cosmos-1408 on the occasion of an antisatellite missile shot (summary under the acronym ASAT). The United States did not expect to question Moscow and dismiss the thesis of an accidental explosion. Monday already, the US Space Command, the US military command responsible for space forces, had published a statement starting as follows: “Russia has tested an antisatellite missile with direct ascension (Da-Asat) on November 15, 2021, Moscow time, which hit a Russian satellite (Cosmos-1408) and created a lowland debris field. “According to Christophe Bonnal, researcher at the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) and specialist spatial debris,” ASAT is very Probably a Nudol missile that took off from the Russian base of Plesester “, located 800 kilometers north of Moscow.
” Irresponsible Behavior “
“Russia has demonstrated deliberate contempt for the safety, safety, stability and long-term sustainability of the space domain for all nations. (…) Spatial activities underlie our way of life , and this type of behavior is simply irresponsible, “said the head of the US Space Command, General James Dickinson. Even bell in the press release published by Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator: “Given his long and rich history of inhabited space flights, it is inconceivable that Russia endangered non-American astronauts and Those of the international partners of the ISS, but also his own cosmonauts. His actions are imprudent and dangerous, also threatening the Chinese space station and the Taikonauts on board. All nations are responsible for preventing the deliberate creation of spatial debris by ASAT. “
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