A Navy missile soaring 130 miles above the Pacific smashed a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday and probably destroyed a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel, officials said.
The USS Lake Erie, armed with an SM-3 missile designed to knock down incoming missiles not orbiting satellites launched the attack at 10:26 p.m. EST, according to the Pentagon. It hit the satellite about three minutes later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph.
Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said."Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days," it said.
The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates not a military commander was to make the final decision to pull the trigger.
The USS Lake Erie, armed with an SM-3 missile designed to knock down incoming missiles not orbiting satellites launched the attack at 10:26 p.m. EST, according to the Pentagon. It hit the satellite about three minutes later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph.
Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said."Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days," it said.
The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates not a military commander was to make the final decision to pull the trigger.
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