Jim Bridenstine in Trump Cabinet members actions and issues

On Homeland Security: Intentional explosions in space pose risk to all spaceflight

India destroyed one of its satellites with a missile last week, a move the Indian Prime Minister welcomed as one that established India "as a space power." But NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said that it posed an "unacceptable" threat to astronauts on board the ISS.

"What we are tracking right now, objects 4 inches or bigger --about 60 pieces have been tracked," he said. He said 24 of those pieces were traveling above the ISS, even though the satellite had been orbiting 185 miles above the Earth, lower than the station, which orbits roughly 250 miles above the Earth. "That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station," Bridenstine added. "That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight."