- The BOSTON GLOBE (2-19-98) is fresh with the details of a Minuteman missile on
a test flight over the Pacific Ocean last month being destroyed in a collision
with a piece of space junk.
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- Reporter Dave Chandler outlines what
may be the first known case of space collision that "analysts fear
could befall the space shuttle or other spacecraft with crew amid thousands
of untracked pieces of rocket debris orbiting the Earth."
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- The missile was soaring 240 miles above
the Marshall Islands in a test of "Star Wars" tracking systems
when it suddenly disappeared from radar screens.
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- Lieutenant Colonel Rick Lehner, spokesman
for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization: "There seems to be
really no proof, but the consensus is that it looks like it may have been
struck by some space debris."
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- Over 7,000 pieces of space junk has been
cataloged and is being tracked by the US Space Command.
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- Debris in orbit moves at high speeds,
more than 17,000 miles per hour.
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- According to the National Research Council,
almost all of the debris that could inflict 'critical damage' on the space
shuttle is likely too small to be tracked. Any impact would come without
warning, as in the Jan. 15 Minuteman collision.
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