US Navy Successfully Destroys Spy Satellite

It reads like something out of a science fiction movie: The Pentagon and the US Navy on a mission to destroy a rogue satellite falling to earth. Well, it's official and real. The US spy satellite US-193 (also known as L21), originally launched on December 14, 2007, was destroyed Wednesday February 21, 2008, around 10:29 pm EST by a modified SM-3 missile fired from the Aegis ship USS Lake Erie, which was stationed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

Originally, the satellite was predicted to hit the earth sometime in early March, unless action was taken to shoot it down. The 5,000 pound satellite which was traveling over 17,000 miles per hour just above the earth's atmosphere, took a direct hit and it looks as though the cause of worry, the 40 inch wide Hydrazine tank aboard the satellite, has been destroyed. During a press conference at the Pentagon as seen on CNN, Marine General James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that "We're very confident that we hit the Satellite. We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank." He goes on to explain that they saw a "fireball" and "vapor cloud" which would indicate that the tank with the fuel was hit.

The debris field has apparently already begun to reenter the earth's atmosphere and is being seen over the Atlantic ocean. Cartwright mentions that "thus far, we've see nothing larger than a football [in the debris field]." In a Pentagon Statement in The Wall Street Journal, officials believe that because the satellite was hit while reentering the earth's atmosphere, "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." FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is on alert but not activated as a precaution measure in case any dangerous or sensitive debris lands in the U.S.

Additional Sources:

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