Ships warned of satellite

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.