A Russian anti-satellite missile test puts the ISS in peril
Should such tests now be banned?
“SORRY FOR the early call”, the transmission from ground control to the International Space Station (ISS) in the morning of November 15th began, “but we were recently informed of a satellite break-up and need to have you guys start reviewing the safe-haven procedure.” That meant the crew of the ISS—a joint venture between America, Canada, the European Space Agency, Japan and Russia—had to seal off some of the modules in which they live and work and retreat to the two space capsules currently moored at its airlocks, lest debris from the break-up puncture their living space.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Fragmentation grenade”
From the November 20th 2021 edition
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