In the News: About that Broken Satellitel

U.S. Officials Say Broken Satellite Will Be Shot Down

By DAVID STOUT and THOM SHANKER

Published: February 14, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to shoot down a disabled 5,000-pound spy satellite within the next two weeks, before it tumbles from orbit, because the rocket fuel it carries could be a danger to people, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

The operation will be carried out from a Navy ship that will fire a missile modified for the task, which resembles shooting down a ballistic missile warhead as it begins to re-enter the atmosphere.

President Bush ordered the military to try to pick off the satellite because “there was a possibility of death or injury to human beings beyond that associated with the fall of satellites and other space object normally, if we can use that word,” a deputy national security adviser, James Jeffrey, said.

This has been a story that has interested me for a bit. I am glad to see some follow up in the news. The article was found on the New York Times at this link