[2] The launch occurred on 21 February 2008 at approximately 10:26 p.m. EST from the cruiser USS Lake Erie, using a heavily modified Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) to shoot down the satellite.

In 2008, President George W. Bush determined that the satellite's fuel could potentially cause environmental damage if released, and asked the United States Strategic Command to destroy it.

[10][11] However, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, did mention that the U.S. government was monitoring the satellite's decay and that it was examining different options to “mitigate any damage”.

[10] On 14 February 2008 General James Cartwright, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a public announcement that the U.S. intended to shoot down USA-193.

Finally, they did not want to let the satellite enter the Earth's atmosphere because of its non-aerodynamic characteristics, which would make it extremely hard to intercept.

[12][13] To meet the flexibility of this operation the government established that the U.S. Navy and the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) would be the best option.

[2] General Cartwright stated that if the satellite came down in one piece that nearly one half of the spacecraft would survive re-entry, which would spread the toxic cloud of hydrazine gas roughly over the size of two football fields.

[2] On 25 February 2008, the Department of Defense announced that based on debris analysis, that the objective of destroying the hydrazine tank and reduction, if not elimination, of the risk to people on Earth was achieved.

[18] While most of the debris re-entered the Earth's atmosphere within a few months, two pieces lasted slightly longer because they were thrown into higher orbits.

The destruction of USA-193 came just weeks after Russia had drafted a new treaty to ban space weapons which was backed by China at a UN-sponsored forum.

[19] This prompted the Russians to accuse the United States of using the hydrazine gas as a cover-up to test an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon.

[20][21] These speculations have led many to believe that Operation Burnt Frost was in response to China's ASAT test on 11 January 2007 and to fear this would begin another "space race".