Two satellites have collided in space for the first time, sending out a massive cloud of debris, according to the US military.
The crash, which took place in low-earth orbit, involved a privately-owned US communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite.
"We believe it is the first time that two satellites have collided in orbit," said Air Force Colonel Les Kodlick of the US Strategic Command.
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He added that the debris created by the crash was creating potential problems for space operations.
The US satellite was a craft owned by Iridium Satellite LLC, which said customers using satellite phones may experience brief outages until a fix had been put in place by Friday.
