By Ron Cowen
Editor’s note: The following story was originally posted February 12 and then updated February 21 after a February 20 press briefing from NASA. Officials said it was unclear yet whether debris from the collision would pose too great a risk for a planned mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.
View videos illustrating the satellite collisions.
The orbital highways above Earth have been getting more crowded for years, but until February 10 there had been no local big bang.