The Time When A Pilot Shot Down a Satellite
On September 13, 1985, U.S. Air Force pilot, Major Wilbert “Doug” Pearson, shot down a satellite while piloting an F-15A Eagle fighter aircraft. He became the first pilot ever to do so.
Pearson’s mission, dubbed the “Celestial Eagle Flight,” took place over the Pacific Ocean. He flew his F-15A Eagle to a height of 38,100 feet and launched an ASM-135 ASAT anti-satellite missile at a defunct orbiting satellite. The satellite that was targeted was the Solwind P78–1, a solar laboratory which had been launched in 1979.
Pearson flew at Mach 1.22 to the target site and then put the aircraft in a 3.8g, 65-degree climb at Mach 0.934. The ASAT missile was then automatically fired at the satellite orbiting 345 miles above the earth. The 2,700 pound, 18-foot long missile flew to the target and then separated, sending a rocket with a miniature homing vehicle on a course to collide with the satellite at 15,000 mph.
This wasn’t the first time an attempt had been made at shooting down a satellite. In the late 1950s, the United States came out with its first anti-satellite system called Bold Orion. This rocket was launched from a B-47 Stratojet at a satellite called…
