Washington wasn't informed in advance about the test, only the fourth ever to hit a spacecraft from the ground, and will talk to allies about how to respond, said officials.
The move reignites concerns about the growing space arms race, encompassing everything from the development of satellites capable of shunting others out of orbit to laser weapons.
"On November 15, 2021, the Russian Federation recklessly conducted a destructive test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites," said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a statement.
He added the test had generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and will likely create hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris.
The crew aboard the orbital outpost – currently four Americans, a German and two Russians – had to take shelter in their return ships, the standard "safe haven" alarm procedure in the event of an emergency that might force evacuation.
The station later returned to a "green" alert level, tweeted Russian space agency Roscosmos.
But in his strongly-worded remarks, Blinken said the danger was far from over. READ MORE...
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