Space Junk

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Capt Jack

not that Im not a huge fan of blowin stuff up just cuz...but, as memory serves, there is currently a shuttle in space...space being sorta where this non-op orbiting death object is?

I'm pretty sure it would be impossible for the current mission to be diverted to retrieve the satellite (assuming it is small enough to fit inside if they did). The shuttles aren't exactly carrying a lot of extra fuel for spontaneous side trips.

I'd also think that 120 miles up is a bit lower than they'd be comfortable doing a long stay as that's about (I believe) 200 miles lower than the shuttle's normal low earth orbit.

And considering how stupidly expensive shuttle launches are it is probably still cheaper to just blow it up and start over with a new rocket launched satellite.