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The weapons test, carried out by the Russian Ministry of Defense, took place at a time when tensions between the USA and Russia increased. US officials warn allies Moscow is building a military presence on the Ukrainian border. And the missile test’s security threats to the space station also occurred when NASA negotiated with Russia’s space agency Roscosmos to swap astronaut trips to the International Space Station in US vehicles for seats on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Officials from both countries see such regulations as key to maintaining operations on the space station.
“About 1,700 new objects, larger objects are being tracked,” Dana Weigel, NASA’s deputy space station director, said at a press conference previewing the planned spacewalk Monday. “It will take several months for all of this to be cataloged and incorporated into our normal debris monitoring process, then we can evaluate the distances missed and how close these items are to the ISS.”
Ms. Weigel said the Russian weapons test has doubled the size of the background debris environment for the space station. He said the new debris field increases the risk of spacewalking astronauts by about 7 percent. However, he said that similar risk calculations for past spacewalks “run into his family.”
The Russian missile test, which departed from the Plesetsk launch site about 650 miles north of Moscow, angered US officials and drew condemnation from other countries, including Australia, Canada and the UK.
“It’s sad that the Russians are doing this,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said shortly after testing.
The spacewalk delay came a day before the White House convened the first meeting of the National Space Council during the Biden administration. Inside letter Lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee, who were sent to the council on Monday, urged the council’s chairman, Vice President Kamala Harris, to act on the Russian anti-satellite test and “work to develop an international dialogue on norms of responsible behavior in space.”
There have been a dozen spacewalks this year, many of which add new components and solar panels to the outside of the space station. NASA plans to keep the 21-year-old orbital lab operational until 2030, pending congressional approval. But the station has already shown signs of its age, such as cracks and air leaks discovered in a key module in 2019.
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