Posted on 05/16/2002 6:53:40 AM PDT by truthandlife
The U.S. space agency NASA is concerned that the July launch of its space shuttle, which will include for the first time an Israeli astronaut, could become a target for a terrorist attack on July 19.
Although American intelligence services have not received a specific warning, NASA sources told the ABC-TV network that they are worried that the shuttle, which will include Colonel Ilan Ramon, could be a target for a terrorist attack.
According to ABC's report, NASA is afraid that a small plane may try and crash into the shuttle when it is on the launchpad. Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, security around NASA launch sites has been intensified with fighter planes and AWACS spy planes protecting the area. Intelligence sources said there are no reports of a planned terrorist attack against the space shuttle, which is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 19.
Michael
Can only hope that that is true. Remember Mathias Rust?
But just in case.....we are launching on July 19th!
"Brilliant" Intelligence sources.
And the notion scares the daylights out of me.
Fired from where? You can't get anywhere near the shuttle when it's sitting on the launch pad. I think it would be out of range of a gunshot, but I can't say I'm positive of that, it's been too many years since I was there.
I do believe security prep. has taken this and many other possible scenarios into account. The launch will go forward successfully, regardless on any "attacks" on the ground.
Now THAT- that is the scary one. I wonder how close along the coast a boat can get? Or for that matter come from some inland waterway somewhere - at night, silent and sneaky....
But, surely somone is watching the water closely. Right?
I thought it was pretty big - you only think you're as close as it looks like you are.
Anybody know the range of a stinger? Might be time to make the exclusion zone bigger.
Is this an accurate statement? Wasn't a launch recently halted due to an airspace violation by a small aircraft?
With four astronauts and the next full-time crew of the International Space Station strapped into the ship's crew cabin, Endeavour is scheduled for launch at 7:41 p.m. EST Thursday (0041 GMT Friday) while the U.S. war on terrorism continues both at home and abroad.
And while it's unclear whether specific or credible threats have been made against Endeavour, NASA officials acknowledge that the shuttle is an icon of American technological prowess and, therefore, a potential terrorist target that must be protected.
"The space shuttle is a highly visible national symbol, and it (represents) a large commitment by the American taxpayers, a large investment," said NASA lead flight director Wayne Hale. "So we would be remiss if we didn't take steps to protect that asset."
In what is expected to be an unprecedented show of force, look for military jet fighters and attack helicopters to be patrolling airspace over and around NASA's 140,000-acre (56,000-hectare) spaceport as the agency prepares to launch Endeavour.
Radar reconnaissance aircraft likely will be keeping tabs on air traffic around the Central Florida space center, and while security officials here won't say whether anti-aircraft artillery will be in place, this much is certain:
"We are going to take all measures to protect ourselves whether it be land, air or sea threats," said Major Mike Rein, a spokesman for the Air Force's 45th Space Wing, which is coordinating launch security with NASA and contractor counterparts at KSC.
Neither NASA nor Air Force officials will discuss in detail the measures that have been taken for the first shuttle launch since hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Some, however, have been readily apparent.
A military jet fighter was in the air on Oct. 30 when Endeavour made a six-hour trip to launch pad 39B from KSC's 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building, where the orbiter was outfitted with a 15-story external tank and twin solid rocket boosters.
A helicopter gunship and a larger-than-normal contingent of heavily armed SWAT team officers were on hand Nov. 8 when Endeavour's astronauts arrived at KSC for a traditional practice countdown.
Security around the sprawling space center also has been raised to new levels.
A widespread area of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral has been off-limits to mariners since shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Normally closed only during shuttle and rocket launches, the zone of exclusion likely will be the site of stepped-up surveillance by U.S. Coast Guard and military reconnaissance aircraft as countdown clocks tick toward Endeavour's scheduled liftoff.
The Federal Aviation Administration also has expanded restricted air space over and around the space center, establishing a Temporary Flight Restriction, or TFR, zone.
Stretching from the surface to 18,000 feet (5,640 meters) and covering a wide area around the space center, the zone is meant to keep private pilots in small aircraft from approaching within about 12 miles (19 kilometers) of Endeavour's launch pad.
Dozens of small aircraft typically take to the skies on any given launch day, aiming to get a bird's eye view of a shuttle liftoff.
In fact, past shuttle countdowns have been stalled as private planes crossed into restricted air space, and aircraft "intruders" have flown within a three-mile (4.8-kilometer) security zone surrounding NASA's two shuttle launch pads.
The new TFR zone restrictions will require private pilots to make their flight paths easy to track by civilian and military air traffic controllers. What's more, only aircraft meeting the following criteria will be allowed to fly in the restricted zone:
Aircraft on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight path.
Aircraft on visual flight rules (VFR) using a discrete transponder code and in radio contact with the specific Air Traffic Control tower responsible for the air space they are flying within.
In addition, VFR aircraft will only be allowed to fly in a northwest or southeast direction, and they must remain west of U.S. Highway 1 -- a public road that runs parallel with the boundary of space center grounds about 12 miles west of Endeavour's pad.
Public, media and even KSC worker access to the space center also will be restricted for the shuttle launch.
Only a limited number of launch viewing tickets -- about 1,500 -- will be sold to the public by the contractor that operates the KSC Visitor Complex.
Like any other shuttle launch, ticket holders will be bussed from the complex to a KSC viewing site some seven miles (11 kilometers) south of Endeavour's launch pad.
NASA officials, however, decided not to distribute about 5,000 so-called "car passes" to the public. Available in the past to anyone who wrote to NASA and requested one, the passes enabled a visitor to drive a car, truck or van full of people to the same viewing site.
All media representatives without permanent KSC credentials, meanwhile, will be escorted to NASA's Launch Complex 39 Press Site from a parking lot outside KSC gates and then shepherded back off space center grounds.
In the past, visiting media troops -- which typically number about 400 -- have had unescorted access to the press site, which is located 4.2 miles (6.7 kilometers) from Endeavour's launch pad.
In addition, NASA has decided to cancel a traditional launch-day media opportunity: Snapping pictures of the astronauts as they depart KSC crew quarters and head out to the launch pad.
Off limits to KSC workers: A set of grandstands located next to the KSC press site. The bleachers normally provide an up-close view of launch for select groups of about 200 workers along with their families and friends.
One thing that won't change: so-called VIP operations. NASA typically hosts about 3,000 invited guests at any given shuttle launch and those VIPs will be bussed to a viewing site some 3.2 miles (5.1 kilometers) from the pad.
NASA officials say the restrictions on public, the media and work force access to KSC are designed to ease the burden on security forces by limiting the number of cars, trucks and vans that pass through space center gates on launch day.
"We're not set up to accommodate searches of that many private vehicles," said Lisa Malone, chief of NASA's communications division here at KSC. "So you'll have to have a (KSC Identification) badge, a launch ticket or a VIP invitation to get in through the gate on launch day."
Members of the Endeavour crew, meanwhile, say they have been briefed on the security measures and will feel at ease when they board the shuttle a few hours prior to liftoff.
"We all walked out of that meeting knowing that we were probably going to be among the top, well-protected citizens in the country -- if not the world -- for those few hours we're at KSC," Endeavour mission commander Dom Gorie told SPACE.com.
"I have to tell you, it's not a concern of the crew."
Ms Cleo and other psychics have been contacted.
The reverands, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will bless the vehicle.Smoking has been banned for the 19th in FL.
There! What else can we do?
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