Russian Anti-Satellite Missile Launch Into Space ‘Dangerous’ US Govt Says. Debris in ISS Station’s Orbit: No Damages (update)
UPDATE
According to the ministry, the test took place on Monday and hit a Soviet-era Celina-D type reconnaissance satellite, which has been in orbit since 1982. This information corresponds with assertions made by Western media that the target was Kosmos-1408, an Electronic and Signals Intelligence satellite.
Russia described the decision to conduct the test as a planned activity to strengthen its defense capabilities and a way to prevent “the possibility of sudden damage to the country’s security in the space sphere and on the ground.”
Blinken attacked Moscow for claiming to oppose “the weaponization of outer space” while simultaneously sending a missile to destroy a satellite.In response, the Russian Defense Ministry slammed Washington as “hypocritical,” while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Washington itself was responsible for an arms race in space.
Last year, Lavrov called for rules that would prevent the placement of weapons in space.“The plans of the US, as well as those of France and NATO as a whole, to place weapons in outer space are taking shape,” he said at the time. “We are convinced that it is not too late to develop measures acceptable for all to prevent confrontation in outer space.”
ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON NOVEMBER, 16, 2021
by Defense One (Russia Today’s article below)
The U.S. government has condemned a Russian anti-satellite missile launch that blew up a Russian satellite on Monday, generating debris that now endangers the International Space Station.
“Today, miles above us, there are American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station. What the Russians did today, with these 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris, poses a risk not only to those astronauts, not only to those cosmonauts but to satellites of all nations,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price. Price added that the impact also generated hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris too small to be tracked.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the United States was given no advance notice of the launch.
“We watch closely the kinds of capabilities that Russia seems to want to develop which could pose a threat not just to our national security interest, but the security of other spacefaring nations,” Kirby said.
Last December, Russia test-launched an anti-satellite missile that did not blow anything up. At the time, U.S. Space Command said Russia’s repeat tests of the direct-ascent missile and of a co-orbital anti-satellite weapon, showed it was intent on weaponizing space. If it ever used the direct ascent ASAT on a low-orbit satellite, it could “irrevocably pollute the space domain,” Space Command said at the time.
U.S. Space Command has previously warned that the number of objects and pieces of debris from past collisions of objects or old parts of aging or no-longer functioning systems now cluttering low Earth orbit has grown 22 percent in the last two years, to about 35,000 trackable items, not including the new debris generated from Monday’s ASAT test.
Space Command tracks the trajectories of all of those objects and shares the information to help prevent collisions in space.
“USSPACECOM continues to monitor the trajectory of the debris and will work to ensure all space-faring nations have the information necessary to safeguard their on-orbit activities if impacted by the debris cloud, a service the United States provides to the world, to include Russia and China,” Space Command said in the statement.
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“The debris resulting from this test will remain in orbit putting satellites and human spaceflight at risk for years to come,” U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement posted to Twitter.
On Monday, the live feed from the International Space Station, which is live-streamed to the public by NASA, captured the astronauts and cosmonauts being directed to shelter as the orbiting debris field neared them, according to the space tracking website SpaceFlightNow.com and the state-supported Russian news outlet RT.
By Tara Copp
Originally Published by Defense One
Pentagon alarmed at Russian satellite explosion
by Russia Today
After the Pentagon noticed a “debris-generating event” in orbit, the State Department condemned what they said was a Russian test of an anti-satellite missile, calling it “dangerous and irresponsible behavior.”
“US Space Command is aware of a debris-generating event in outer space,” the Pentagon said on Monday, saying the US military was “actively working to characterize the debris field.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price accused Moscow of using a direct ascent missile to destroy an orbiting satellite, creating over 1,500 pieces of trackable space debris.
“This test will significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station, as well as to other human spaceflight activities,” Price told reporters at Foggy Bottom on Monday afternoon.
The crew on board the ISS reportedly briefly withdrew into their modules due to some of the debris intersecting the station’s orbit, but there were no reports of damage.
Live coverage: Space station crew members take cover from space debris
“Russia’s dangerous and irresponsible behavior jeopardizes the long term sustainability of outer space, and clearly demonstrates that Russia’s claims of opposing the weaponization of space are disingenuous and hypocritical. The United States will work with our allies and partners to respond to Russia’s irresponsible act,” Price said.
Later in the day, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told the Washington Post it was “outrageous” and “unconscionable” that Russia carried out the missile strike, adding that he believes the Russian space agency “didn’t know anything about this. And they’re probably just as appalled as we are.”
Originally published by Russia Today
Note: all links to Gospa News articles has been added by Gospa News editorial staff
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