Space shuttle Atlantis heading home before U.S. Army shoots down spy satellite

NASA have announced that the Space Shuttle Atlantis is ready to return back to earth, the space agency is pushing for the return of the shuttle as the U.S. Army is getting ready to shoot down an old spy satellite. The old spy satellite died early in 2006, which means that the U.S. Army has a ship on standby to launch a missile to shoot the ailing satellite from the sky.

So NASA has been forced to get their bird home so that the sky is clear and nothing can get in the way of the missile. The Army has decided to shoot the old spy satellite down as it has toxic rocket fuel on board, and the U.S. Army does not want it to fall on any populated area.

NASA hopes that The Space Shuttle Atlantis will return to the Kennedy Space Center at 9:07 a.m. EST today Wednesday.

Source – Reuters