As space junk threatens station, US blames Russia

By Marcia Dunn | Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A Russian weapons trial created much than 1,500 pieces of abstraction junk present threatening the 7 astronauts aboard the International Space Station, according to U.S. officials who called the onslaught reckless and irresponsible.

The State Department confirmed Monday that the debris was from an aged Russian outer destroyed by the missile.

“Needless to say, I’m outraged. This is unconscionable,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told The Associated Press. “It’s unbelievable that the Russian authorities would bash this trial and endanger not lone planetary astronauts, but their ain cosmonauts that are connected committee the station” arsenic good arsenic the 3 radical connected China’s abstraction station.

Nelson said the astronauts present look 4 times greater hazard than normal. And that’s based connected debris large capable to track, with hundreds of thousands of smaller pieces going undetected — “any 1 of which tin bash tremendous harm if it hits successful the close place.”

In condemning Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said satellites were besides present successful jeopardy.

The trial intelligibly demonstrates that Russia “despite its claims of opposing the weaponization of outer space, is consenting to … imperil the exploration and usage of outer abstraction by each nations done its reckless and irresponsible behavior,” Blinken said successful a statement.

There was nary contiguous remark precocious Monday from Russia astir the rocket strike.

Once the menace became wide aboriginal Monday morning, the 4 Americans, 1 German and 2 Russians connected committee were ordered to instantly question structure successful their docked capsules. They spent 2 hours successful the 2 capsules, yet emerging lone to person to adjacent and reopen hatches to the station’s individuals labs connected each orbit, oregon 1 1/2 hours, arsenic they passed adjacent oregon done the debris.

By the extremity of the day, lone the hatches to the cardinal halfway of the presumption remained open, arsenic the unit slept, according to Nelson.

Even a fleck of overgarment tin bash large harm erstwhile orbiting astatine 17,500 mph (28,000 kph). Something big, upon impact, could beryllium catastrophic.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the U.S. has repeatedly raised concerns with Russia astir doing a outer test.

“We are going to proceed to marque precise wide that we won’t tolerate this benignant of activity,” helium told reporters.

NASA Mission Control said the heightened menace could proceed to interrupt the astronauts’ subject probe and different work. Four of the 7 unit members arrived astatine the orbiting outpost Thursday night.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who’s midway done a yearlong mission, called it “a brainsick but well-coordinated day” arsenic helium bid Mission Control bully night.

“It was surely a large mode to enslaved arsenic a crew, starting disconnected with our precise archetypal enactment time successful space,” helium said.

A akin weapons trial by China successful 2007 besides resulted successful countless debris. One of those pieces threatened to travel dangerously adjacent to the abstraction presumption past week. While it aboriginal was dismissed arsenic a risk, NASA had the presumption determination anyway.

Anti-satellite rocket tests by the U.S. successful 2008 and India successful 2019 were conducted astatine overmuch little altitudes, good beneath the abstraction presumption astatine astir 260 miles (420 kilometers.)

The defunct Russian outer Cosmos 1408 was orbiting astir 40 miles (65 kilometers) higher.

Until Monday, the U.S. Space Command already was tracking immoderate 20,000 pieces of abstraction junk, including aged and breached satellites from astir the world.

Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said it volition instrumentality days if not weeks and months to catalogue the latest wreckage and corroborate their orbits. The fragments volition statesman to dispersed retired implicit time, owed to atmospheric resistance and different forces, helium said successful an email.

The abstraction presumption is astatine particularly precocious hazard due to the fact that the trial occurred adjacent its orbit, McDowell said. But each objects successful low-Earth orbit — including China’s abstraction presumption and adjacent the Hubble Space Telescope — volition beryllium astatine “somewhat enhanced risk” implicit the adjacent fewer years, helium noted.

Earlier successful the day, the Russian Space Agency said via Twitter that the astronauts were ordered into their docked capsules, successful lawsuit they had to marque a speedy getaway. The bureau said the unit was backmost doing regular operations, and the abstraction station’s commander, Russian Anton Shkaplerov, tweeted: “Friends, everything is regular with us!”

But the unreality of debris posed a menace connected each passing orbit — oregon each 1 1/2 hours — and each robotic enactment connected the U.S. broadside was enactment connected hold. German astronaut Matthias Maurer besides had to find a safer spot to slumber than the European lab.

NASA’s Nelson noted that the Russians and Americans person had a abstraction concern for a half-century — going backmost to the associated Apollo-Soyuz ngo successful 1975.

“I don’t privation it to beryllium threatened,” helium told the AP, noting some countries are needed for the abstraction station. “You’ve got to run it together.”

AP reporters Matthew Lee and Robert Burns successful Washington contributed.