The US military said it was investigating a “event that generated debris” in space and forced astronauts currently on the International Space Station to take refuge in their ships, so that they can evacuate when needed. “US Space Command is aware of event that generated debris in space, said a spokesperson. We are actively working to characterize the debris field. “ The army is in contact with the State Department and NASA on this issue.
Some American space specialists suspect that an anti-satellite missile test conducted by Russia is the source of this debris, but this information has not yet been confirmed. Such an action, which would constitute a show of force from Moscow, has been carried out by only four nations in the past, including Russia. It is highly criticized, in particular because of the large amount of debris generated, which then becomes dangerous projectiles.
Seven people are currently on the International Space Station. According to the specialized media Spaceflight Now (in English), NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and Tom Marshburn, as well as European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer, took refuge aboard the spacecraft Dragon of SpaceX, on which they arrived only a few days ago. The American astronaut Mark Vande Hei and the two Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrovnik went to the spacecraft. Soyuz. This procedure should enable them to be able to leave the ISS towards Earth in an emergency.
Earlier, the Russian space agency Roscosmos had declared the astronauts aboard the ISS out of danger, without mentioning a possible missile test. “The object’s orbit, which forced the crew to travel to the spacecraft today using standard procedures, has moved away from the orbit of the ISS, Roscosmos tweeted. The station is now in the green. “” Friends, everything is in order with us. We continue the work according to our program “, also tweeted (in Russian) cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.
Tea @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.
The station is in the green zone. pic.twitter.com/MVHVACSpmT
– РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) November 15, 2021