Russian Spacecraft Inspecting U.S. Spy Satellite

CNN is reporting that Russian “inspector” satellites are maneuvering near a U.S. government reconnaissance satellite.

“Last November the Russian government launched a satellite that subsequently released a second satellite,” US Space Command Commander and the Space Force’s Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond said in a statement Monday.

“These satellites have been actively maneuvering near a U.S. government satellite and behaving similar to another set of satellites that Russia deployed in 2017, and which the Russian government characterized as ‘inspector satellites.’ “

[….]

“The purpose of the experiment is to continue work on assessing the technical condition of domestic satellites,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement at the time.

Raymond said Monday that Russia’s recent actions place the county among nations that “have turned space into a warfighting domain.”