The Navy Shoots...The Navy Hits

Hell yes.

A missile launched from a Navy ship successfully struck a dying U.S. spy satellite passing 130 miles over the Pacific on Wednesday, a defense official said. Full details were not immediately available.

It happened just after 10:30 p.m. EST.

Two officials said the missile was launched successfully. One official, who is close to the process, said it hit the target. He said details on the results were not immediately known.

The goal in this first-of-its-kind mission for the Navy was not just to hit the satellite but to obliterate a tank aboard the spacecraft carrying 1,000 pounds of a toxic fuel called hydrazine.

Danger Room has a look at the narrowness of the shooting window and the process that led to the order to shoot being given.

The U.S. military will only have seconds per day to shoot down an ailing spy satellite. And the decision to fire will be made by the Secretary of Defense himself.

At a Pentagon press conference today, an unnamed "senior military official" briefed reporters on the details on the satellite take out attempt. "Each day there will be one window," he said. "It will only exist for a matter of tens of seconds, and so you have to be at exactly the right place, exactly the right time, and all criteria have to line up exactly right."

And then basically a bullet has to hit a bullet a hundred plus miles in space.

Remember, the Democrats want to kill missile defense because it, like the surge, doesn't work.

Update [Ace]: I was just going to post this.

Fuck it, I think I will anyway.

Nah. Already did that six times this week.

posted by DrewM. at 12:17 AM

| Access Comments