India’s anti-satellite missile test imperiled ISS: NASA

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has branded India's destruction of one of the country's satellites last week as a "terrible thing".

The comments came on Monday, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India had shot down a satellite, a culmination of the nation's journey toward becoming an "elite space power".

"That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station [ISS]. That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight that we need to see have happen," the Press Trust of India quoted NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine as saying while addressing a NASA townhall.

"The ASAT test by India last week has resulted in about 400 pieces of orbital debris," he said.

"It's unacceptable. NASA needs to be very clear about what its impact to us is."

In a televised address to the nation last week, Modi said "India has entered its name as an elite space power. An anti-satellite weapon successfully targeted a live satellite on a low-earth orbit."

He said Mission Shakti (power) was completed in three minutes.

The announcement came ahead of the country's general election, which will be held in seven stages starting on April 11.