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April 19, 2022

VP Kamala Harris Pledges U.S. Won't Test Anti-Satellite Weapons
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Vice President Kamala Harris toured the Vandenberg Space Force Base in
California on Monday ahead of a Democratic National Committee
fundraiser. Harris, who chairs the National Space Council, pledged in a
speech to Space Force soldiers that the U.S. will no longer conduct
destructive tests of satellites, and she called on other nations to end
their development of satellite-killing weapons.

Vice President Kamala Harris: "These weapons are intended to deny the
United States our ability to use our space capabilities by disrupting,
destroying our satellites, satellites which are critical to our national
security."

Last November, Russia tested an anti-satellite missile that created more
than 1,600 pieces of orbital debris large enough to track, posing a risk
to satellites and astronauts. The U.S. carried out a similar test in
2008. At the time, the U.S. test prompted protests from Russia, which
had just proposed a treaty to ban space weapons.


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