The State Department said the cloud of debris from the missile strike added more than 1,500 pieces of sizable space junk to Earth’s orbit.
Russia carried out an antisatellite missile test on Monday, obliterating one of its own satellites in orbit. The test created a vast cloud of debris that continues to orbit Earth, and some of the material loomed dangerously close to the International Space Station, forcing astronauts to take shelter for hours in a pair of spacecraft capable of returning them to Earth. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in a statement on Monday described the missile strike as “recklessly conducted.” “The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris, and will likely generate hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris,” he added. The U.S. Space Command said in a statement that the “debris will remain in orbit for years and potentially for decades, posing a significant risk to the crew on the International Space Station and other human spaceflight activities.” “This is pitiful that the Russians would do this,” Bill Nelson, NASA’s administrator, said in an interview. He said NASA officials have talked to Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, about the antisatellite test. Mr. Nelson said the NASA official who oversees the space station, Joel Montalbano, as well as NASA’s third highest-ranking official, Bob Cabana, are in Moscow and plan to discuss the test with their Russian counterparts tomorrow. Mr. Nelson also noted that the incident threatened the three astronauts now aboard China’s Tiangong space station. Russian military officials did not reply to requests for comment about the weapon test. But it occurred at a moment when military tensions between Russia and the United States have grown. Last Wednesday, the State Department said Russia was building up troops on its border with Ukraine. Mr. Blinken said that aggressive actions on the border “would be of great concern to the United States.” NASA and Roscosmos, which jointly manage the space station and protect the astronauts inside, have largely been insulated from the military tensions between Washington and Moscow. But those two geopolitical spheres clashed after Monday’s weapon test.
