The seven astronauts that are carrying out experiments aboard the International Space Station were forced to take shelter in the Crew Dragon and Soyuz spacecraft as the space station came close to a cloud of space debris.

As per NASA, the debris was created after Russia destroyed one of its old satellites to test its anti-satellite (ASAT) missile, with the blast reportedly creating around 1,500 separate pieces of space junk. Though the orbital outpost did not report any damage, the space agency will continue to monitor the situation for a few days.

NASA calls it reckless and dangerous

Describing the emergency, NASA said the crewmembers made their way to their spacecraft shortly before 2 a.m. ET and continued to take shelter until around 4 a.m. The space station is “passing through or near” the debris cloud every 90 minutes. The astronauts were asked to take shelter for a risk assessment by the debris office and ballistics specialists at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson didn’t hold back while criticizing Russia’s move, describing it as “reckless and dangerous.” Nelson added: “I’m outraged by this irresponsible and destabilizing action. With its long and storied history in human spaceflight, it is unthinkable that Russia would endanger not only the American and international partner astronauts on the ISS but also their own cosmonauts. Their actions are reckless and dangerous, threatening as well the Chinese space station and the taikonauts on board.”

Roscomos trying to downplay the situation

Nelson said that “all nations have a responsibility to prevent the purposeful creation of space debris from ASATs and to foster a safe, sustainable space environment.”

The U.S State Department has also issued a statement, describing the satellite strike as “dangerous and irresponsible.” As per NASA, there are more than 10 million pieces of space debris that are orbiting our planet at the moment.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos also tried downplaying the whole incident by saying: “The orbit of the object, which forced the crew today to move into spacecraft according to standard procedures, has moved away from the ISS orbit. The station is in the green zone.”