U.S. officials have acknowledged a growing fear that Russia may be trying to put a nuclear weapon into orbit.

Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains that their real worry is that America could lose the battle for military supremacy in space.

Guest: Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The U.S. warned its allies that Russia could put a nuclear weapon into orbit this year.
• The Pentagon is in the early stages of a program to put constellations of smaller and cheaper satellites into orbit to counter space-based threats of the sort being developed by Russia and China.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.