Ascension Island a staging point by the British military during the Falklands War. Ascension Island hosts one of four ground antennas (others are on Kwajalein Island, Diego Garcia, and Cape Canaveral) that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational system. NASA operates a Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) on Ascension Island for tracking orbital debris, which is potentially hazardous to operating spacecraft and astronauts, at a facility called the John Africano NASA/AFRL Orbital Debris Observatory. In 1501, the Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque sighted the island on Ascension Day (which fell on 21 May that year) and named
NRP Afonso de Albuquerque (1934) led by the Leopard-class frigate , just outside the Mormugao port. The two frigates and a minesweeper were an advance group of a task force which included the aircraft carrier and about ten cruisers, destroyers, frigates and minesweepers. At 1200, as the Portuguese commanders refused to surrender, the INS "Betwa" and her sister ship forced the entrance into the port and opened fire on "Afonso de Albuquerque", which moved towards the enemy ships and returned fire. At the same time, the final radio message was sent to Lisbon: "We are being attacked. We are responding." "Afonso de Albuquerque" was hit