India’s anti-satellite missile test was a “terrible” thing that created about 400 pieces of space debris that put the International Space Station and its astronauts at risk, according to NASA’s chief.

Jim Bridenstine addressed employees of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Monday, five days after India destroyed a low-orbiting satellite in a test to prove it was among the world’s advanced space powers.

Not all of the pieces were big enough to track, Bridenstine said.

“What we are tracking right now, objects big enough to track — we’re talking about 10 centimeters (6 inches) or bigger — about 60 pieces have been tracked,” he said.

The Indian satellite was destroyed at a relatively low altitude of 180 miles, well below the ISS and most satellites in orbit — but 24 of the pieces “are going above the apogee of the International Space Station,” Bridenstine said.

“That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station,” he said.

“That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight,” he added. “It’s unacceptable and NASA needs to be very clear about what its impact to us is.”

The US military, which monitors objects in space to predict collision risks, is currently tracking 23,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters. That includes about 10,000 pieces of space debris, of which almost 3,000 were created by a Chinese anti-satellite test in 2007 at 530 miles from the surface.

As a result of the Indian test, the risk of collision with the ISS has increased by 44 percent over 10 days, Bridenstine said, but much of the debris will eventually burn up as it enters the atmosphere.

With Post wires