Orbiting politics: crises in outer space.

From: Harvard International Review | Date: June 22, 1997| Author: | Copyright information

Greg Goldfarb is a Staff Writer for the Harvard International Review.

On July 24, 1996, a small piece of rocket debris crashed into a French military satellite, sending the satellite spinning end over end. The fragment of rocket that collided with the French satellite was a remnant of a 1986 explosion, caused by the ignition of leftover fuel. The French were eventually able to reestablish control over their satellite. However, the collision marked a dubious milestone: it represented the first high-speed collision of two known, tracked objects in outer space.

The creation ...

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