Russia rejects accusations of endangering ISS astronauts

MOSCOW — Russian officials connected Tuesday rejected accusations that they endangered astronauts aboard the International Space Station by conducting a weapons trial that created much than 1,500 pieces of abstraction junk.

U.S. officials connected Monday accused Russia of destroying an aged outer with a rocket successful what they called a reckless and irresponsible strike. They said the debris could harm the abstraction station, an appraisal backed by NATO’s chief.

Astronauts present look 4 times greater hazard than mean from abstraction junk, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told The Associated Press.

The trial intelligibly demonstrates that Russia, “despite its claims of opposing the weaponization of outer space, is consenting to ... imperil the exploration and usage of outer abstraction by each nations done its reckless and irresponsible behavior,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The Russian abstraction bureau Roscosmos wouldn’t corroborate oregon contradict that the onslaught took place, saying lone that the “unconditional information of the unit has been and remains our main priority” successful a connection Tuesday.

Russia’s Defense Ministry connected Tuesday confirmed carrying retired a trial and destroying a defunct outer that has been successful orbit since 1982, but insisted that “the U.S. knows for definite that the resulting fragments, successful presumption of trial clip and orbital parameters, did not and volition not airs a menace to orbital stations, spacecraft and abstraction activities.” It called remarks by U.S. officials “hypocritical.”

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the onslaught was carried retired “with surgical precision” and posed nary menace to the abstraction station.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov besides charged that it is “hypocrisy” to accidental that Russia creates risks for peaceful activities successful space.

Once the concern became wide aboriginal Monday morning, those connected committee the International Space Station — 4 Americans, 1 German and 2 Russians — were ordered to instantly question structure successful their docked capsules. They spent 2 hours successful the 2 capsules, yet emerging lone to person to adjacent and reopen hatches to the station’s idiosyncratic labs connected each orbit, oregon 1 1/2 hours, arsenic they passed adjacent oregon done the abstraction debris.

Even a fleck of overgarment tin bash large harm erstwhile orbiting astatine 17,500 mph (28,000 kph). Something big, upon impact, could beryllium catastrophic.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg agreed that Russia’s actions endangered the abstraction station.

“This was a reckless enactment by Russia to really sprout down and destruct a outer arsenic portion of a trial of an anti-satellite weapons system,” which created a batch of abstraction debris, Stoltenberg told reporters successful Brussels.

He said it was of further interest “because it demonstrates that Russia is present processing caller weapons systems that tin sprout down the satellites, tin destruct important abstraction capabilities for basal infrastructure connected Earth, similar communications, similar navigation, oregon similar aboriginal informing of rocket launches.”

NASA Mission Control said the heightened menace could proceed to interrupt the astronauts’ subject probe and different work. Four of the 7 unit members lone arrived astatine the orbiting outpost connected Thursday night.

A akin weapons trial by China successful 2007 besides resulted successful countless pieces of debris. One of those threatened to travel dangerously adjacent to the abstraction presumption past week. While aboriginal the hazard it posed was dismissed, NASA had the abstraction presumption determination anyway.

Anti-satellite rocket tests by the U.S. successful 2008 and India successful 2019 were conducted astatine overmuch little altitudes, good beneath the abstraction station, which orbits astir 260 miles (420 kilometers) high.

Marcia Dunn successful Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Lorne Cook successful Brussels contributed to this report.