News From Space!

The weapons of World War III
It will ‘be fought in the electromagnetic spectrum’
“The U.S. Army is convinced that the Russians have already designed ‘kinetic weapons’ and ‘directed energy weapons’ (apparently lasers) for ASAT warfare”….

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69079

Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, has issued a stark warning that America must invest now in the space agency Nasa, or surrender leadership of space exploration to Russia and China.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2211940/Buzz-Aldrin-Invest-in-Nasa-to-beat-the-Chinese-to-Mars.html

Images of the missile hitting the satellite late Wednesday night, Feb. 20. The Pentagon has a “high degree of confidence” that a Navy missile destroyed the fuel tank of an errant spy satellite hurtling toward Earth, a senior military officer told reporters early Thursday morning.

Click for video

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

DoD Succeeds In Intercepting Non-Functioning Satellite
At approximately 10:26 p.m. EST today, a U.S. Navy AEGIS warship, the USS Lake Erie (CG-70), fired a single modified tactical Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) hitting the satellite approximately 247 kilometers (133 nautical miles) over the Pacific Ocean as it traveled in space at more than 17,000 mph. USS Decatur (DDG-73) and USS Russell (DDG-59) were also part of the task force.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/news/2008/space-080220-dod02.htm

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11704

U.S. Navy gunners in the Pacific were watching the sea and sky Wednesday, waiting for perfect conditions to take a kill shot on an errant satellite 150 miles above them. 

There will be a total eclipse of the moon Wednesday night, the last one until 2010. It will be visible in the Americas starting at 8:43PM EST. Western Europeans can see the eclipse early Thursday morning (0143 GMT on 21 Feb).

Will we see the satellite shootdown, too?

With yesterday’s spacewalk wrapping up Atlantis’ EVAs, Saturday’s tasks include further outfitting of the Space Station’s new Columbus Module.

Meanwhile, NASA will open up Edwards AFB as a possible landing site to make sure Atlantis gets home before the imminent shootdown of a dead spy satellite. The ISS crew should not be endangered in the attempt. NASA reports:

Columbus Outfitting Continues

Image above: The STS-122 and Expedition 16 crews gather together for a joint crew news conference on Saturday. Photo credit: NASA TV

The space shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station crews are busy today transferring supplies and equipment into the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Columbus laboratory.

This morning, the station got a reboost, a routine procedure to adjust its orbit. The purpose of the reboost was to place the orbital outpost in better position to receive future visitors, including the Expedition 17 crew, who are slated to arrive in April.

Also, the STS-122 and Expedition 16 crews participated in a joint crew news conference.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush decided to make a first-of-its-kind attempt to use a missile to bring down a broken U.S. spy satellite because of the potential danger to people from its rocket fuel, officials said Thursday.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UQA6EG0&show_article=1