The long range missile was evidently in flight for more than seven minutes before it was destroyed. The night of the launch all the dems on Larry King's show kept saying it was in the air for mere seconds, then failed. That's why we didn't have to blow it up. But it seems the rocket was in the air far longer than first thought. Maybe we did take it out and just aren't saying.
It's probably for the best we don't admit it, if we did--not even to our own legislators. The 'Rats among them will want to dismantle the program if it turns out to be successful.