Navy Hits Errant Satellite

The Navy tonight struck an errant spy satellite with its first missile shot, the AP reports. A ship in the Pacific hit the satellite as it passed about 130 miles above the ocean. The military says it needed to destroy the satellite before it crashed to Earth because the toxic fuel aboard posed a risk. It will take a day or two to confirm that the fuel tank was destroyed, the AP notes.

Critics, including Russia, called the shootdown unnecessary and said the US merely wanted to test its anti-missile technology. The odds of the satellite crashing into a populated area and causing harm were tiny, they say. The mission became so sensitive that defense chief Robert Gates himself made the final decision on when to fire the missile. (More satellite stories.)