A Flash in the Night Sky

I am outraged that you'd make a judgement about whether or not shooting down the satellitte in the face of overwhelming odds against it hitting something and doing damage was worth it. You are the same people who would be ready to pounce on the Government for failure to act if it did hit something. You'd be using all that high level intelligence you suggest to have and provide some detailed analysis of why it should have been plain to everyone that shooting down the satellite was necessary.

People in responsible places make decisions based on some level of risk analysis. One was made. In fact, the missile was successful. That says something good about our military technology and our ability to mitigate a potential hazard.

Find something more useful to write about like what people in this world can do to help each other, or ways the media can just shut up and report the facts.

Rick Reeder
Greenacres, Florida

Newsweek [sic] appears to be "sick " as well. Correct your spelling to "Newsweak"...

What no one here seems to understand is how brilliant this whole thing was. 1. We showed the Chinese we can take out their satellites too (deterrence). 2. We did so without litter up space the way they did. 3. We prevented a possible security breech. 4. We did so with a plausible enough cover story so that the Russians and Chinese may complain for a day or two, they aren't forced to save face by responding in kind. 5. We eliminated a small but real chance of environmental/human harm. 6. WE SHOT A SATELLITE THAT WAS TRAVELING AT NEARLY 20,000 MPH OUT OF THE SKY FROM A NAVY SHIP! HOW COOL IS THAT?

All in all, a pretty good day for our intelligence and military folks.

I once saw a 'strucutral integrity test' of an empty spherical fuel tank designed to carry monomethyl hydrazine for space applications - it was made of honeycomb titanium and superbly engineered. It was strapped onto the front of a rocket sled and hit against a concrete wall at 250+ miles per hour. When the tank hit the wall nothing happened to it - barely a scratch. If the same kind of fuel tank was used on this satellite (and we can't know for sure as it is a secret device) there is a very real chance that the fuel tank could survive reentry and boink something or somebody on the head. Also the technology of the tank construction, which is not trivial, would also be available for some unfriendly type's inspection.

"After the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed while re-entering the atmosphere in 1997." The Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed on Feb. 1, 2003...

I have to comment about the "reactors in space". Most satellites do not use nuclear reactors like the ones used in naval ships or for power production on earth. They are radioisotope thermoelectric generators, RTGs, which use the heat given off by radioactive decay to produce electrical power. It appears to be a minor detail but it the device is a lot smaller and works on different principles than a full fledge power plant. News week ... get the details right.

OR.....it's just us shooting down a potentially harmful satelite using the well designed technology we have developed. Good for us and great job USS Lake Erie! What if we did nothing and it DID hit a populated area or harm individuals or property, can you imagine the fallout from that? Get a grip.

C'mon guys -- what's the fun of being President if you can't order somethin' blown to smithereens ever' so often, and they kinda tol' you it cain't be Iran jes' yet? Fella has t'prove how big his ****s is, once't in awhile, y'know ...

Seriously, though -- thanks, Newsweek, for a first-rate analysis of this issue.

Bravo, Newsweek for being the first American news source that I have seen which did not take the official explanation of the mission hook, line, and sinker. I am glad that there are still news sources which question and critically analyze the information provided by the government rather than act as its propaganda arm. It is sad that every single news agency outside the US has reported the official explanation with more than a grain of salt, and almost none of the US news outlets did.

Please lets wake up before we have a New World Order in place and stand against a 4th Reich.
Our societies already look like a very sinister combination of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and 1984 by George Orwell. Fascism the new American dream ?
The war on terror has taken our civil liberties away before our eyes along with the American dream and the constitution.
It seems that America taking advantage of the new Martial laws is inevitable due to Bush's keeness to go to war with Iran. Hitler ruled Nazi Germany with the same terror tactics used to manipulate us post 9/11 so whatever the reason for the shooting down of this spy satellite be it increased surveillance, hiding advanced technology form China or Russia, Biological warfare, blocking off communication systems for the period of time it takes a country to committ atrocities to its population it certainly looks like we are at the tipping point in taking back or losing completely our rights and liberty, Get rid of the illegal federal reserve system and take back the controlled lives that we are living in. Impeach Cheney and vote Ron Paul for honesty and integrity.
Please look beyond the war on terror and the day to day fear we live with and see that we have infinate possibility to live without conflict - lets see how disconnected we have become from our own realites and demand our stepford wife like lives back.

Please lets wake up before we have a New World Order in place and stand against a 4th Reich.
Our societies already look like a very sinister combination of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and 1984 by George Orwell. Fascism the new American dream ?
The war on terror has taken our civil liberties away before our eyes along with the American dream and the constitution.
It seems that America taking advantage of the new Martial laws is inevitable due to Bush's keeness to go to war with Iran. Hitler ruled Nazi Germany with the same terror tactics used to manipulate us post 9/11 so whatever the reason for the shooting down of this spy satellite be it increased surveillance, hiding advanced technology form China or Russia, Biological warfare, blocking off communication systems for the period of time it takes a country to committ atrocities to its population it certainly looks like we are at the tipping point in taking back or losing completely our rights and liberty, Get rid of the illegal federal reserve system and take back the controlled lives that we are living in. Impeach Cheney and vote Ron Paul for honesty and integrity.
Please look beyond the war on terror and the day to day fear we live with and see that we have infinate possibility to live without conflict - lets see how disconnected we have become from our own realites and demand our stepford wife like lives back.

Read between the lines. This has nothing to do with toxic fuel and everything to do with the Chinese proving they have asat capabilities recently. After Bush has withdrawn from the treaties regarding the ban on abm's and the balance of conventional forces in europe - his latest genius move is to militarize and start an arms race in space. All of these treaties were in place to prevent world war 3, and this idiot pulls out of all of them in addition to lighting the powder keg in the middle east. History has reserved a place for this idiot, and in time, tragically it will be all too clear.

its powered by alien technology,it will cost less than 10 million to shoot down,the balance is Bush's retirement package

Fascinating. This is something I've often wondered about.

fascinating. this is something I've often wondered about.