Chairman Smith: “I’m talking about the meteor that exploded over Russia.”
Gen. Shelton: “We had no insight on that at all.”
Chairman Smith: “Even with satellites? Even with everything else?”
Gen. Shelton: “We were aware of the event when it occurred.”
Chairman Smith: “And not before?”
Gen. Shelton: “And not before.”
Chairman Smith: “I just have to ask you how, then, are we going to be aware of incoming missiles if we couldn’t detect the meteor exploding over Russia?”
Gen. Shelton: “We did detect it. We were aware of the event.”
Chairman Smith: “But at the time of the event?”
Gen. Shelton: “Yes sir,
Chairman Smith: “Not before.”
Gen. Shelton: “Yes sir. And we would have to take that into a different forum to talk in more detail.”
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Was the Chelyabinsk Meteor recognized by the world’s space-fairing superpowers as a natural event and not the start of a nuclear exchange? Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) quizzed Gen. William Shelton, U.S. Air Force Space Command about detection.