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US Shoots Down Spy Satellite
A missile fired from a boat blows a satellite out of the sky. It sounds like a video game, but it was the United States Navy working with NASA to solve a problem. The US had a satellite orbiting the earth that was out of control.
The USA-193 was a spy satellite that was supposed to help take pictures for the military from space. Instead, it stopped working and just sailed around the planet, getting closer and closer to crashing down.
The US government said that the rocket fuel on the satellite, called hydrazine, could be dangerous to people. The USA-193 was also the size of a bus and weighed 5,000 pounds. The government decided to shoot it down so that it couldn't hurt anyone if it crashed to Earth.
The Navy ship USS Lake Erie shot a missile into the satellite as it passed about 150 miles above the Pacific Ocean. That wasn't easy. The satellite was traveling over 17,000 miles per hour. The missile hit the satellite burning up the hydrazine before it could reach Earth.
The Russian and Chinese governments were unhappy with the situation. They accused the US of using the satellite as an excuse to test weapons. A year ago, China shot down one of its old satellites and the American government was unhappy for the same reason.
I'm Ben and that's what happened in our nation this week.
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