http://www.newsweek.com/nasa-chief-india-endangered-international-space-station-1382712

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said India could have put the International Space Station (ISS) at risk by testing its anti-satellite missile. Speaking to employees at a townhall meeting, Bridenstine called the demonstration a “terrible, terrible thing” as it led to the creation of even more space debris—bits of rockets and satellites that have broken away and now orbit Earth.

Space debris can be extremely dangerous—as brought to popular culture in the 2013 Sandra Bullock film Gravity—as it is travelling extremely fast. As NASA explains: “In low Earth orbit (below 1,250 miles, or 2,000 kilometers), orbital debris circle the Earth at speeds of between four and five miles per second. However, the average impact speed of orbital debris with another space object will be approximately six miles per second. Consequently, collisions with even a small piece of debris will involve considerable energy.”