One early test of electronic space warfare , the so-called Starfish Prime test , took place in 1962 , when the United States exploded a ground-launched nuclear weapon in space to test the effects of an electromagnetic pulse . The result was a deactivation of many then-orbiting satellites , both American and Soviet . The deleterious and unfocused effects of the EMP test led to the banning of nuclear weapons in space in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 . ( See High altitude nuclear explosion . ) In the early 1960s the U.S. military produced a film called '' Space and National Security '' which depicted space warfare
Starfish Prime
Starfish Prime
Space warfare