The United States has accused Russia of endangering the integrity of the International Space Station with the “reckless” destruction of one of its own satellites, causing the astronauts to take refuge in two spacecraft from the rain of thousands of pieces. of space junk. The US State Department has assured that Russia has destroyed one of its own satellites with a missile. A ballistic test that so far has left “more than 1,500 pieces of space junk” scattered, which threatens to endanger “the interests of all nations.”
“This test supposes a significant increase of the risks to which astronauts and cosmonauts are exposed in the International Space Station”, as well as for the rest of activities related to the trips to the space, has counted the spokesman of the Department of State, Ned Price , who pointed out that the Administration had already spoken “several times with senior Russian officials to warn them of the irresponsibility and dangerousness of the test.” For his part, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has transferred that these events “clearly demonstrate” that Russia “is willing to jeopardize the long-term sustainability of outer space”, as well as “jeopardize the exploration and use ”From space by the rest of the nations.
In this sense, he has stated that the US Administration will work, in collaboration with its allies and partners, to respond to this “irresponsible act”, at the same time that it has invited the rest of the countries to join together to agree on a series of “norms responsible behavior ”. “We urge all responsible space nations to join us in efforts to develop standards of responsible behavior and refrain from destructive, dangerous and irresponsible tests such as those carried out by Russia,” said the Secretary of State in a statement released by the Department.
Astronauts on the International Space Station were forced to take refuge in a pair of special capsules after a cloud of space debris threatened to pass near the facility. NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, along with Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency, got into the Crew Dragon spacecraft; while Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei took refuge in the Soyuz capsule.
The Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, has criticized that Russia has not made the US authorities aware of the missile test that it would have carried out, so Washington has advanced, it will ask to review the rules on space activities to confirm what can “be used responsibly ”by all nations present in the cosmos. For his part, the administrator of NASA, Bill Nelson, has subscribed to the words of the Secretary of State and has transferred his disbelief at the events carried out by Moscow because “they also endanger their own cosmonauts.”
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