One of the most complicated operations in recent military history is easy to understand when you break it down by the numbers:
17,000 – miles per hour at which the dead satellite was traveling
6,000 – pieces of non-working hardware, or space debris, already in orbit around Earth
1,000 – pounds of deadly hydrazine aboard the satellite
1 in 45 – odds that the satellite’s hydrazine tank could rupture on re-entry and harm humans
3 – number of weeks that teams across the country had to prepare for the mission
360 – number of sailors aboard the U.S.S. Lake Erie -- the ship responsible for shooting down the satellite
170 – about number of times the Lake Erie rehearsed the mission
7 – number of days the Navy had to shoot down the satellite
15 – the number of seconds on each of those days that the launch window would be open
4 – number of stages on a Standard Missile 3, the type of missile used to shoot down the satellite.
180 – about number of seconds between launching the missile and impact
7 – number of time zones in which sensors were tracking the missile launch
2 – approximate number of hours between the missile hitting the satellite and the crew receiving confirmation that the hydrazine tank had been destroyed
1 – number of shots required to take out the satellite