ON THE evening of 20 February, many parts of the world were treated to a spectacular lunar eclipse. That same day, off the coast of Hawaii, an even rarer spectacle could be witnessed in the late afternoon skies: the intentional destruction of a satellite.
Some cheered the event. The obliteration of a dangerous “runaway” satellite before it could crash to Earth and – just conceivably – harm someone makes a satisfying story. Yet alleviating that slight danger by “shooting down” the satellite is likely to have damaging long-term consequences.
The US Department of Defense said it needed to destroy spy satellite USA…
