We’re Shooting Down Satellites Now?

Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

Not comforting:

The shuttle Atlantis left the International Space Station on Monday and headed home for a planned Wednesday landing, clearing the way for a Defense Department effort to shoot down a failed spy satellite.

Um, why?

Why does Atlantis have to be out of outer space before the Defense Department has to shoot down a satellite? 

I mean — space, as Douglas Adams would say, is very very big.  And if there’s a chance that the missile might miss and hit the Atlantis space shuttle, isn’t there a chance that the missile might miss and hit, say, the Triad?

Just wondering out loud….