Navy's Missile is Right On Target

At the time Gates was enroute to Hawaii on his way to a visit to Australia and Indonesia. Later Thursday, he visited the destroyer USS Russell, one of the three Navy ships assigned to help track the satellite and its debris.

The elaborate intercept triggered worries from some international leaders who feared it was a thinly disguised attempt to test an anti-satellite weapon one that could take out other nation's orbiting communications and spy spacecraft.

Within hours of the reported success, China said it was on the alert for possible harmful fallout from the shootdown and urged Washington to promptly release data on the action.

"China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at news conference in Beijing. "China requests the U.S. to fulfill its international obligations in real earnest and provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way so that relevant countries can take precautions."

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen brushed off those concerns, saying the shoot down does not threaten any country and is not a new space race with any country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report