A mysterious Russian satellite with a shady mission has broken apart in Earth's orbit, creating a hazardous cloud of debris zipping around the planet and menacing other satellites, US Space Force announced. Russia launched another secret satellite in May 2014, and it soon began maneuvering itself in orbit, dropping and raising its altitude until it brought itself "suspiciously close" to the rocket stage that had delivered it to orbit, according to Zak. tweeted that its early data "points toward a low intensity explosion," likely from the satellite's propulsion system