NEW YORK, April 2 (APP):The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has called India’s destruction of a satellite last week a “terrible, terrible thing”, saying the space debris created by the explosion should be considered a threat to the International Space Station (ISS) and the astronauts on board.
Last week India intentionally destroyed one of its satellites with a missile, a move Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as one that established India “as a space power.”
But NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told employees in Washington on Monday that it posed an “unacceptable” threat to astronauts on board the ISS, according to American media reports.
He said the satellite shattered into pieces, many of them large enough to pose a danger to the space station but not large enough to track. It is unclear how many pieces of debris were created.
“What we are tracking right now, objects big enough to track — we’re talking about 10 cm (4 inches) or bigger —about 60 pieces have been tracked,” he said.
He said 24 of those pieces were traveling above the ISS, even though the satellite had been orbiting 185 miles above the Earth, lower than the station, which orbits roughly 250 miles above the Earth.
In the wake of India’s action, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said: “Every nation has the responsibility to avoid actions which can lead to the militarization of this arena.”
NASA Administrator Bridenstine echoed those words of caution on Monday, saying: “When one country does it, then other countries feel like they have to do it as well.”