> But if I had to guess, a lot of its mission became obsolete when post-1980s era NRO satellites when into service. That is exactly what happened. Also it is a

> But if I had to guess, a lot of its mission became obsolete when post-1980s era NRO satellites when into service. That is exactly what happened. Also it is a very politically charged event to blast a Satellite out of orbit (resulting shards). You can blast airplanes out of "your" airspace all day long and tell everyone to pound sand.