Debris tracked after missile hits US spy satellite

DEBRIS from an obliterated US spy satellite is being tracked over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but appears to be too small to cause damage on Earth, a senior military officer said yesterday, hours after a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the failing spacecraft.

Marine General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and an expert on military space technologies, told a Pentagon news conference officials have a “high degree of confidence” the missile launched from a Navy cruiser hit exactly where intended.

It was an unprecedented mission for the Navy, so extraordinary that the final go-ahead to launch the missile late on Wednesday was reserved for Defence Secretary Robert Gates rather than a military commander.