Video of satellite shoot down

[CGowen]

http://video.ap.org/v/Legacy.aspx?g=58560fc7-7ff1-45d4-9aea-3080463651f8




Satellite Debris Deemed Unhazardous

By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Debris from an obliterated U.S. spy satellite is being tracked over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but appears to be too small to cause damage on Earth, a senior military officer said Thursday, just hours after a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the failing spacecraft.

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an expert on military space technologies, told a Pentagon news conference that officials have a "high degree of confidence" that the missile launched from a Navy cruiser Wednesday night hit exactly where intended.

It was an unprecedented mission for the Navy, so extraordinary that the final go-ahead to launch the missile Wednesday was reserved for Defense Secretary Robert Gates rather than a military commander.

Cartwright estimated there was an 80 percent to 90 percent chance that the missile struck the most important target on the satellite - its fuel tank, containing 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, which Pentagon officials say could have posed a health hazard to humans if it had landed in a populated area.



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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEAD_SATELLITE?SITE=MAATT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[liberal N proud]

1. Marking to watch later

When I have more time

[Parche]

2. Satellite

They just didnt want it to fall into 'Al-Kida's' hands, that is why they shot it down....:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :hi:

[applegrove]

3. Wow! They can actually shoot something out of space.

[peacetalksforall]

4. All simulated? How can we believe WH partners? One team. If some lie,

they can all lie. Will wait for comments from those I can/might trust.

[Pterodactyl]

5. Amazing technology!

Wow... They can hit a fast moving object in space with a missle! It was just a few years ago, that this feat was impossible and the technology was unproven.

[Angleae]

6. Actualy, it was done in 1985 sucessfully.

But the program was cancelled in 1988.

[Pterodactyl]

7. Too bad they canceled it.

They should have kept the research up. Imagine what they'd be able to do today. I know I'd feel a lot safer from a ballistic missile attack.