American spy satellite to be shot down with missile

All our hopes and dreams have been recognised.

You all remember that American spy satellite that was headed for earth at an alarming rate ? Well, you might remember, we at Toms UK and IRL were all for the missile approach. Shoot the thing down and be done with it.

The satellite was expected to hit Earth in the first week of March and at first officials were saying that everything would be alright. Most of the Satellite would burn up on re-entry and that was that. “But, what about the bits that don’t ?” people asked. We were assured that there was nothing to worry about. There’s so much ocean around that the likelihood anything would hit land would be very slim.

Then, news came about that it might hit North America and everything got a bit serious [a wise man (we’ll call him Dave for arguments sake) once said, "what goes around, comes around" -Ed]

The satellite is outfitted with thrusters containing toxic rocket fuel. Hydrazine is a bit dangerous and can cause harm to anyone who comes into contact with it. Officials say there is about 500kg (1000 pounds) of it on the satellite.

Yesterday, President George Bush ordered that an attempt be made to shoot down the satellite with a Navy missile.

Basically they’ve modified some Navy missiles, which they’re going to shoot from a cruiser. However, they have no way of knowing if the missiles will make it to the satellite.

It has yet to be revealed when the attempt to take out the big piece of junk will take place but General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the window for opportunity would open in the next few days and once open, would last for about a week.

Pentagon officials have said that they’re not quite sure as to how successful this kind of operation could be as it’s the first of its kind.

Watch this space. No pun intended.