Originally posted by ChaosComplex
WOW!!! I had no idea that things like this were taking place!!! +1 if another country did this we'd be pissed!!
This is nothing to get upset about. What I'm upset about is all the space debris floating around, making it more dangerous to even go into space,
especially to do an EVA (spacewalk). If you want to get upset about something, get upset about this:
2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test
Anti-satellite missile tests, especially ones involving kinetic kill vehicles as in this case, contribute to the formation of orbital space debris
which can remain in orbit for many years and could interfere with future space activity. The test is the largest recorded creation of space debris in
history with at least 2,317 pieces of trackable size (golf ball size and larger), thereby increasing the total number of currently tracked objects in
earth orbit by more than 22%.
A bullet travels at what? maybe 1000-1500 mph? This debris travels at what, 17,000 mph? 20,000 mph? and kinetic energy increases with the square of
the velocity so that's an extra 2317 deadly GOLF BALL or larger missiles zipping around the planet! Debris as small as a bullet is probably 15,000
pieces from just that one test, and maybe 50,000 BB sized pieces, and I think a BB at 17,000 mph might be enough to kill a spacewalker!
I've got nothing against China but I don't think ANY country should be turning the space around the earth into a cosmic shooting gallery for future
space travelers.
I don't really care about a few chunks of metal hitting the moon, it happens all the time whether we do it or whether it's an iron meteorite
deflected from the asteroid belt. I mean just look at the moon, it's covered in craters, right? What's one more and it will be so tiny you won't
even be able to see it with the naked eye will you?
How is it a stretch? The OP posted verbatim what the article title was, as per T&C. Go call up Scientific American and ask that august body
"What ever were you thinking..." 
