Space debris: International Space Station astronauts forced into hiding

On Monday, the US military said it was investigating a “debris-causing event” in space that forced astronauts currently on the International Space Station to turn to their ships so they could evacuate if necessary.

• Read also: Four astronauts took off to the space station with SpaceX

“US Space Command is aware of an event that caused debris to be present in space. The spokesperson, who also noted that the military is in contact with the State Department and NASA on this issue, said, “We are actively working to characterize the debris field.

Some American space specialists suspect that the test of an anti-satellite missile conducted by Russia is the source of this debris, the information is not confirmed at the moment.

Such action, which would constitute a show of force by Moscow, has been carried out by only four countries in the past, including Russia. It was severely criticized, particularly due to the large amount of debris generated, which then turns into dangerous projectiles.

And the Russian space agency Roscosmos had announced earlier that the astronauts aboard the International Space Station were out of danger, without mentioning the possibility of a missile test.

“The orbit of the object, which today forced the crew to travel to the spacecraft using standard procedures, moved away from the orbit of the International Space Station,” the Russian space agency Roscosmos wrote on Twitter. “The station is now green.”

“Friends, everything is fine with us. “We continue to work according to our program,” tweeted Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.

We were contacted, and NASA did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests.

There are currently seven people on the International Space Station. According to specialist media Spaceflight Now, NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and Tom Marshburn, as well as European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer, have taken refuge aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which they arrived on board just a few days ago.

American astronaut Mark Vande and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Peter visited them in the Soyuz spacecraft, from the same source.

This measure should allow them to leave the space station for Earth in the event of an emergency.