The United States government is angry with Russia. The reason is that Russia is accused of conducting space weapons testing in an indiscriminate and dangerous manner, even forcing astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) to take shelter in shelters.
The test destroyed one of Russia's old satellites with a missile, leaving a large number of debris described as very dangerous. On the ISS, there are two Russian cosmonauts themselves along with 4 US astronauts and two German astronauts.
"The Russian Federation recklessly carried out a satellite damage test with anti-satellite missiles aimed at their own satellites," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price.
"The tests have so far yielded more than 1,500 detectable debris and hundreds of thousands of other small pieces that are a threat," he added.
NASA boss Bill Nelson also expressed his frustration. Not only endangering the ISS, he said the test also threatened China's space station.
"I am outraged at this irresponsible act. With its long space history, it was unthinkable that Russia would endanger not only American astronauts and their partners on the ISS, but their own cosmonauts," he said.
The Russians themselves have replied that the test was carried out safely. "The orbit of the object, which made the crew on the ISS move according to security procedures, has moved away from the orbit of the ISS. The station is in the green zone," the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
Nevertheless, the criticism of Russia continued to pour in. The reason is that it is very difficult to control the debris as a result of the missile impact so that Russia's actions are called completely reckless.
"Russia willfully ignores the security, safety, stability and long-term sustainability of space for the entire nation," said General James Dickinson of US Space Command.
