Shooting down satellites isn’t science fiction anymore. The US, Russia, China, and India have all proven they can swat low Earth orbit satellites using anti-ballistic missile tech. But in the early 80s, it was a huge deal. The Soviets were believed to have an armed satellite-killer in orbit. The US had nothing. Then, in classic American fashion, the F-15 Eagle entered the chat. The plan: launch a missile from a jet and hit a satellite in space. Not a wild idea, but brutally hard to pull off. 1/3 🧵
#OTD: 37 years ago, Maj. "Doug" Pearson, flying an F-15A, launched an ASM-135 ASAT missile to successfully destroy a P78-1 Solwind satellite orbiting Earth at an altitude of 555 km (Sept 13, 1985). Doug is the first (and only) pilot in history to bring down a satellite. #avgeeks