Anti-satellite weapons seem to have become an operative reality in the twentyfirst century. In 2007, a Chinese missile took off from the Xichang launch base
and destroyed an out of service satellite, producing over 3,000 pieces of debris in
low Earth orbit. By doing so, Beijing showed its space attack capability to the
whole world, affirming its ambition to be a global space superpower alongside
Moscow and Washington. Nowadays, the ISS must periodically manoeuvre to
avoid the cloud of debris caused by that intentional collision.
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In 2013, another Chinese missile carried out an anti-satellite test in geostationary orbit,
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where all strategic and commercial satellites are located. Until that
moment, geostationary orbit was believed to be unreachable by a weapon launched
from the Earth’s soil.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2834434/Did-Chinese-LENS-CAP-destroyISS-Station-dodges-space-debris-spy-satellite-avoid-disaster.html.
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Weeden, Brian. 2014. Through a Glass, Darkly: Chinese, American, and Russian Antisatellite Testing in Space. Washington, DC: Secure World Foundation.
Beyond the Movies: The Real War for Space We Never Saw on Screen 39