[FPSPACE] First USA-193 shootdown attempt will have its initial window on Wednesday morning

[Peter Pesavento]

>From Reuters:

 

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U.S. to blast satellite after space shuttle leaves


Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:14pm EST

By Andrew Gray

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will have the chance to shoot down
a disabled U.S. spy satellite from next Wednesday, after the space shuttle
Atlantis ends its current mission, a U.S. general said on Friday.

"The window will open when the shuttle is on the ground," said Army Lt. Gen.
Carter Ham, director of operations for the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

"All those who have a vested interest in this will then apply their best
judgment as to when the best opportunity is to intercept the satellite," he
told reporters.

The Pentagon said on Thursday the Navy would try to shoot down the satellite
before it enters the atmosphere, using a modified tactical missile from a
ship in the Pacific, to avert a potentially deadly leak of toxic gas from
its fuel tank.

Each missile costs about $10 million but the U.S. government did not yet
have an estimate of the cost of the shootdown operation, Ham said.

The space shuttle is scheduled to land on Wednesday at 9:06 a.m EST at the
Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Ham said the opportunity to shoot down the satellite would last until early
March.

Some space experts have criticized the decision to shoot down the satellite,
saying the risk of it causing any damage on the ground was remote.

They suggested the United States wanted to test its ability to hit other
states' satellites. But U.S. officials insist their sole aim is to minimize
the risk to human life.

Washington strongly criticized China for shooting down an old weather
satellite in a test in January 2007.

Neither the United States nor Russia have conducted an anti-satellite
operation since the 1980s, analysts said.

The State Department said it would try to reassure other nations the
operation was not a statement of intentions about international arms
treaties or anti-satellite weapons.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. operation was "quite
different" from China's test.

The Pentagon's mission would be "to try to protect populations on the
ground" and take place when the satellite is about 155 miles from earth, he
said.

China's operation was designed specifically as a test against a satellite
and left a large amount of debris in orbit at a higher altitude that could
affect the ability of others to put satellites into space, McCormack said.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, editing by Alan Elsner)