curent event
title:Pentagon confident satellite's toxic fuel destroyed
who:Pentagon officials
what: Pentagon officials think a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the fuel tank of an errant satellite late Wednesday, eliminating a toxic threat to people on Earth.
when:Thursday morning
where:WASHINGTON
why:The missile that struck the satellite was launched from the ballistic missile defense cruiser USS Lake Erie from the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii at 10:26 p.m. ET Wednesday, the general said. It struck the satellite more than 130 miles above it 24 minutes later.
how:Without intervention, officials say, the satellite would have fallen to Earth on its own in early March. However, since it malfunctioned immediately after it was launched in December 2006, it had a full tank -- about 1,000 pounds -- of frozen, toxic hydrazine propellant.
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