The United States accused Russia of “irresponsible” for incident on the International Space Station
According to Russia, the trial was conducted “following the protocols”.
Photo: NASA / Getty Images
For putting the lives of the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) at risk, the United States accused Russia of committing a “dangerous and irresponsible” act when carrying out a military maneuver with an anti-satellite missile in low orbit. The astronauts and cosmonauts had to take refuge in their capsules due to the large amount of space debris left by the Russian ballistic test.
“Dangerous behavior and irresponsible Russia endangers the security of outer space and clearly shows that Russia’s statements against the use of weapons in space are false and hypocritical “, said Ned Price, spokesman for the State Department.
🔴DANGER IN THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Just a few hours ago, the crew of the International Space Station received an alert of two possible collisions of space debris, before the call, the astronauts had than take refuge in their spaceships: pic.twitter.com/HcBzPZgNHE
NASA has yet to comment on the debris incident , but his Russian counterpart, Roscomos, did so on Twitter and downplayed what happened, claiming that the exercise was carried out in accordance with the relevant procedures .
The @ Space_Station crew is routinely performing operations according to the flight program.
The orbit of the object, which forced the crew today to move into spacecraft according to standard procedures, has moved away from the ISS orbit.
Currently, there are seven astronauts on the ISS , Americans Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron; along with Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, and German Matthias Maurer from the European Space Agency.
Chari, Marshburn, Barron and Maurer were took refuge in the SpaceX Dragon Crew , while Shkaplerov, Dubrov and Vande boarded the Soyuz spacecraft during the incident .
Price assured that the explosion of the Russian satellite has generated more than “1, 500 identifiable space debris ”and hundreds of thousands more of small size.
Both spacecraft have a system that will allow astronauts to return to Earth in case of an emergency .
The military test, not reported by Russia, comes at a time of growing tensions between Moscow and Washington over the concentration of Russian troops in the border with Ukraine, where according to the Ukrainian government there are close to 80, Russian soldiers .
