Pentagon is Confident Missile Hit Satellite

According to The New York Times, senior military officials were very confident that the missile launched from a Navy cruiser Wednesday night had been successful in hitting the intended tank filled with toxic rocket fuel.

"We're very confident that we hit the satellite," said General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank."

The fuel tank, containing more than 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, would have posed health hazards if it landed in a populated area, according to the Associated Press.

Debris has already begun re-entering the atmosphere and is being tracked over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. General Cartwright said that the individual pieces of debris will most likely not exceed the size of a football and will fall into the ocean.

It will take up to 48 hours before the Pentagon can announce with high confidence that the mission was a success.