Taking a photo of something the size of a refrigerator from 200+ to 22,500 miles away would require one hell of a lens.
If we were living in the year 1965, I’d agree with you, but optics have gotten so much better.
The inexpensive Nikon P900 Coolpix can get focus on the moon at 233,000 miles away, so focussing in on a satellite should be a piece of cake at a few miles away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfshAzV0FN4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clg7rQB6H2U
So where are the photos of all that “space junk” and even the ISS from the earth?
Should be a piece of cake.
Your question reminds me, I think because of the advanced state of optics on cameras and telescopes these days, I recall someone asked NASA why they can’t get a shot of the flag on the moon or any other landing gear that was left there, or even the Chinese moon shot itself.
At least the Hubble should be able to get a shot of the moon trash left up there, and should have been able to shoot the Chinese moon walk.
I mean if with a cheap Nikon, I can focus on the surface of the moon, how much better would the Hubble be, in shooting the landing of spacecraft on the moon or focussing in on space trash left there?
It’s just so weird that they didn’t already give us those photos. Or that no one asked the Chinese to take a real photograph of the earth from the moon.