Space Shuttle shot at with Laser in 1984

[RichieB16]

An interesting piece of Cold War history, at least I think so.  On October 10, 1984, the Space Shuttle Challenger was shot at with a laser from the Soviet Union.  This was used as a "warning shot" response to the United States "American Strategic Defense Initiative" and the military use of the space shuttle.

Although the laser was not intended to do any damage (and it didn't), it did cause a few onboard malfunctions and a few problems for the 7 astronaut crew on Challenger.  This event lead to a diplomatic protest.

I always thought that was an interesting event.  The laser fired at Challenger and the crew of STS-41-G is the only "attack" (for lack of a better word) on a spacecraft in history.

[TacitBlue]

That is interesting. Did they fire it from the ground, or another space craft?

[myshelf]

[quote]I always thought that was an interesting event.

[RichieB16]

That is interesting. Did they fire it from the ground, or another space craft?

From the ground.  The Terra-3 Laser was used (I don't know that much about the laser though).

[Hagar]

Maybe now you can understand a little of what I was getting at in that long thread in the General Discussion forum.

[BFMF]

Interesting...I never knew that happened

[RichieB16]

Interesting...I never knew that happened

It's not a commonly known thing, infact I'll bet it didn't even make much of an impact in the news at the time.  Its basically something that only "space nerds" like myself would know about.  

[Flt.Lt.Andrew]

Crazy! Thats a very important event, Richie! So was it like a red laser like in Moonraker? An could it have killed a man?


A.

[RichieB16]

I'm sure it could kill someone.

[TacitBlue]

[quote]Its basically something that only "space nerds" like myself would know about.

[myshelf]

Crazy! Thats a very important event, Richie! So was it like a red laser like in Moonraker? An could it have killed a man?


A.

those "lasers" use the far infrared spectrum and should therefore correctly be named "masers" (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation).

they propably wouldn't kill a man or a mechanical structure, but would play havoc with electronics.
the idea behind this is to wreck a satellite, not to blow it up.
this isn't star trek.

[RichieB16]

they propably wouldn't kill a man or a mechanical structure, but would play havoc with electronics. the idea behind this is to wreck a satellite, not to blow it up. this isn't star trek.

What I ment was that they would be able to fry the shuttle's systems and probably cause the crew to be killed.

[ATI_7500]

the idea behind this is to wreck a satellite, not to blow it up.

Can you "blow" someting up in space anyways? The only effect I could imagine was a minor explosion of oxygen tanks.

[myshelf]

Can you "blow" someting up in space anyways? The only effect I could imagine was a minor explosion of oxygen tanks.

well, some tests were made to fissle nuclear warheads during flight with neutron rays
didn't seem to work tho

[RichieB16]

this isn't star trek.

No, actually it's "Star Wars"