Ships warned of satellite

KEY POINTS:

    Maritime New Zealand is warning ships in the Pacific that at some point today there may be falling debris from American attempts to shoot down a crippled spy satellite.

    The warning has been passed on by the agency after US authorities said their destruction of the highly
    classified satellite would be accompanied by a tiny possibility of the strike misfiring.

    The US Navy is expected to fire its first US$10 million ($12.6 million) SM-3 interceptor missile about 4.30pm.