COLLISION BETWEEN TWO SATELLITES IN ORBIT: IRIDIUM 33 AND COSMOS 2251
In an unprecedented space collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite (IRIDIUM 33, NORAD ID 24946) and a defunct Russian satellite (COSMOS 2251, NORAD ID 22675) ran into each other on February 10, 2009 above Northern Siberia, creating a cloud of debris. The impact occured at 16:56:00 UTC (11:56:00 AM EST), at Latitude 72° 30' 04'', Longitude 97° 52' 46'', Altitude 788.68 km (490.0 miles). The international space station does not appear to be threatened by the debris, but it's not yet clear whether it poses a risk to any other military or civilian satellites. Both satelites were flying at that time with 6.8 km/sec (4.2 miles/sec) or 24480 km/h (15211 miles/h).
Please watch the impact between these satellites as recorded by the real time live satellite tracker.
COSMOS 2251 was coming from West to East while IRIDIUM 33 from South to North
