Two satellites collided in space hundreds of miles (kilometers) above Earth, destroying an Iridium commercial satellite in a crash that may result in disruption of service, the US company said Wednesday. The Bethesda, Maryland-based company said it "lost an operational satellite" after it was struck Tuesday by a spent Russian satellite, in what is being described as the first major collision of its kind in space. US space agency NASA reportedly was tracking hundreds of particles of debris from the collision, and said that the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) faced an "elevated" but small risk of being struck. "While this is an extremely unusual, very low-probability event, the Iridium constellation is uniquely designed to withstand such an event, and the company is taking the necessary steps to replace the lost satellite with one of its in-orbit spare satellites," the company said in a statement. The privately-held Iridium Satellite, which says its network comprises 66 communication satellites plus in-orbit spares, stressed the accident was not the result of a failure of technology or the company's fault.