De profundis ad astra

摘要

THE INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC miS- sile(ICBM) took off from Kwajalein Atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on November 17th. American satellites spotted its bright plume at once. They alerted Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado which in turn informed the uss John Finn, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer poised northeast of Hawaii. A hatch on the deck flipped open and spewed out a torrent of flames as an SM-3 Block ⅡA interceptor shot up and out. High above the Earth, it collided with the descending ICBM.