New dispute is brewing between the United States and Russia.
It's about a suspected missile test that is said to have endangered the lives of the ISS astronauts.
Washington / Moscow - Several astronauts are currently on the ISS.
Most recently, the International Space Station had to be evacuated twice due to possible collisions with space debris.
The United States of America has now identified a culprit for the danger.
US Secretary of State Blinken and NASA condemn Russian missile tests
The US government accuses Russia of having endangered the safety of the astronauts by carrying out a missile test.
"We condemn Russia's ruthless test," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday evening.
The shelling of a Russian satellite left space debris "which endangers the lives of astronauts, the integrity of the International Space Station and the interests of all nations".
According to Seradata, a company specializing in satellite data, the target of the Russian missile test was an old Soviet satellite called Cosmos 1408, which had not worked for decades.
According to its own statements, the US government had not been informed in advance about the test.
Blinken stated that Washington would discuss a reaction with its partners.
Space junk: ISS spacemen had to rescue themselves in spaceships twice
The US space agency Nasa, which wants to ram the moon of an asteroid with the DART space probe, shared Blinkens criticism.
In view of the long history of Russian astronauts, it is “unimaginable” that Russia, in addition to US and other international astronauts, “also endangered its own cosmonauts” and the Taikonauts on the Chinese space station, he said.
According to NASA, the seven astronauts on board the ISS - among them the German Matthias Maurer, were woken up and asked to close the hatches on the ISS.
Then they would have withdrawn for around two hours in two space shuttles docked at the space station.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon and Soyuz space capsules can be used for evacuation in an emergency.
According to the Russian state agency Tass, the cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov said the seven space travelers had escaped to safety in two spaceships docked at the station in both cases.
Missile test from Russia reportedly produced more than 1,500 debris in low-earth orbit
The US Forces Space Command said Monday's test had so far produced more than 1,500 traceable debris in low-earth orbit. Presumably, these would ultimately disintegrate into hundreds of thousands of smaller debris and "remain in orbit for years and possibly decades". This means "a significant risk for the crew of the International Space Station and other manned space activities as well as for the satellites of several countries".
"Russia has shown that it deliberately disregards the security, protection, stability and long-term sustainability of space for all nations," criticized US General James Dickinson.
"Russia is developing and deploying capabilities to actively deny the United States and its allies and partners access to and use of space."
ISS astronauts at risk?
Russia rejects US allegations
Russia denied the allegations.
"These statements are not true," said Yuri Schwytkin, Vice-Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma, on Tuesday the Interfax agency.
There is no limit to the imagination of the US State Department.
"We have always spoken out against the militarization of space," said the MP.
Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell emphasized that there is already too much space junk.
"Deliberately generating more of it is simply unforgivable," he told the AFP news agency.
In his estimation, the first parts of the cloud of space debris generated by the Russian test should enter the earth's atmosphere in a few months.
But it could take up to ten years for the scrap to disappear completely, said the scientist.
List of rubric lists: © NASA / dpa / archive picture