Russia’s ASAT missile test in context: Meduza explains why Moscow risked an international scandal to shoot down an orbiting hunk of Soviet metal

Earlier this week, the Russian military fired a missile into outer space and blew up a Soviet "Tselina-D class" satellite that had been orbiting the Earth since 1982. The U.S. government says the weapons test created a large debris cloud that endangers the crew aboard the International Space Station, calling Moscow's behavior "dangerous and irresponsible," which predictably led the Russian Defense Ministry to deny Washington's allegations and accuse the United States of "hypocrisy," given past debris-generating anti-satellite weapons tests by India, China, and America. Meduza summarizes what we know about this week's orbital event and how dangerous it really is. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/11/18/russia-s-asat-missile-test-in-context