Washington / Moscow – On Monday, Russia launched a missile and blew up its inactive satellite in space. This incident has drawn a strong reaction at the international level. The US said in a statement that Russia’s test is ‘a reckless and dangerous act’ and warned that the US ‘won’t tolerate’ such tests henceforth. Besides, the United Kingdom slammed that ‘This destructive anti-satellite missile test by Russia shows a complete disregard for the security, safety and sustainability of space.’
On Monday morning, Russia’s military test-fired a missile shattering down the Celina-D satellite. Following that, on Tuesday, the Russian military released information that the satellite in space since 1982 had failed. However, the US State Department criticised Russia for showing ‘this kind of irresponsible behaviour’ to the test. The US State Department has accused Russia of conducting a destructive anti-satellite missile test.
‘The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations,’ warned US State Department spokesman Ned Price. Likewise, spokesman Price condemned the Russian’s claim of opposing space weaponisation as ‘dishonest and hypocritical’. The US would discuss this ‘irresponsible conduct’ with its allies and partners, said the State Department spokesman.
Britain and NATO also slammed Russia’s missile test. Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace criticised, ‘The debris resulting from this test will remain in orbit putting satellites and human spaceflight at risk for years to come.’ NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Russia has shown ‘a reckless act’ with the test. Furthermore, the test is being alleged to put the safety of US, German, and Russian astronauts working at the International Space Station (ISS) at risk. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has denied these allegations against him.
This is not the first time Russia has launched a missile to penetrate its inactive satellite into space. Earlier, in 2015 and 2016, Russia had tested an anti-satellite missile (ASAT). Whereas, photographs of a Russian MiG-31 fighter jet equipped with anti-satellite missiles had been viral in the media in 2018. Russia had twice tested an anti-satellite missile in 2020.
Four countries, including Russia, China, the United States and India, have successfully conducted anti-satellite missiles tests. Of these, China’s 2007 anti-satellite missile test was a subject of criticism.
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