Sean Connery in “Meteor“ (1979)

An asteroid, Orpheus, is hit by a comet, and small fragments are sent on a collision course towards Earth, wreaking havoc on the planet, revealing the threat of the slower oncoming five-mile wide asteroid fragment that will cause an extinction-level event. The United States government has a secret orbiting nuclear missile platform satellite, Hercules, designed by Dr. Paul Bradley (Sean Connery), intended to defend Earth against a threat like Orpheus, but commandeered by the U.S. Armed Forces to become an orbiting weapon aimed at the Soviet Union. Bradley calculates that the fourteen nuclear missiles on board Hercules are not enough to stop the asteroid. The Soviet Union also has a similar weapons satellite in orbit, Peter the Great, with sixteen nuclear warheads pointed down at the United States. Needing additional firepower to stop Orpheus, the President goes on national television and engages in political maneuvering, revealing the existence of Hercules, but fabricating a story that it