Tricky Endeavor
A Standard Missile-3 is launched from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie to intercept a threat representative target as part of a Missile Defense Agency test of the sea-based capability under development. The Pentagon said it will try to shoot down a dying, bus-size U.S. spy satellite loaded with toxic fuel on a collision course with the Earth using a SM-3 missile. The military hopes to smash the satellite with a single missile fired from a Navy cruiser in the northern Pacific Ocean. While the shot should be easy, timing the debris' descent could prove tricky.