WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — U.S. officials say a Russian weapons test created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk that are now threatening the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
The State Department confirmed Monday that the debris was from an old Russian satellite destroyed in the anti-satellite weapons test.
"It was dangerous. It was reckless. It was irresponsible," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
The astronauts temporarily retreated into their docked capsules Monday, after first being informed of the threat. Mission Control later had them close the hatches between the space station compartments as a safety precaution.
Roscosmos commented on the threat earlier Monday, only addressing that the "object" had moved away from the International Space Station's orbit.
"The @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," it wrote.
NASA Mission Control says the threat for the four Americans, one German and two Russians on board may continue for another couple of days.
For those living at the orbiting laboratory, hopping into the capsule that carried you into space during a potential emergency is nothing new.
Astronaut suits are actually kept inside each crew's capsule during the duration of their stay at the ISS, allowing for convenient and quick suiting up in these instances.
"It was designed with these kinds of contingencies in mind," Steve Stich, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager said regarding the Crew Dragon.
And while it appears Monday's incident differs from near-space debris encounters of the past — the problem isn't anything new.
It's beginning to get a bit crowded in low Earth orbit as humans continue to litter the limited amount of space available with debris. Millions of pieces of debris are tracked as they orbit Earth, according to NASA's last reported calculation. The objects can travel up to a speed of 17,500 mph which can damage both satellites and spacecraft.
"The rising population of space debris increases the potential danger to all space vehicles, but especially to the International Space Station, space shuttles and other spacecraft with humans aboard," NASA has said in the past.
Astronaut Mike Hopkins told CBS News that the Air Force and Space Force are constantly monitoring debris in space on the chance that one is projected to get a little too close for comfort to the International Space Station.
"It is [constantly] something that we're always worrying about up here, and something that we have to be mindful of," he told the outlet.
According to NASA, the space station has conducted 29 debris avoidance maneuvers since 1990. Of those, three of them occurred in 2020.
The International Space Station has conducted 29 debris avoidance maneuvers since 1999, including three in 2020.