November 29, 2001: A Florida Air National Guard F-15C Eagle fighter jet, assigned to the 125th fighter wing, protects NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-108). Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20051129.htm
In his excellent article about STS-108 mission security -- titled "Military Poised to Use Deadly Force to Protect Shuttle as 'No Fly Zone' Expanded for Launch" and posted November 27, 2001 at http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts108_security_011127.html -- Todd Halvorson says:
In a stern but somewhat cryptic warning, the official indicated that military fighters would be ready to intercept and shoot down any aircraft that strays too far into restricted airspace as countdown clocks tick toward a planned liftoff at 7:41 p.m. EST (0041 GMT Friday).And without discussing details, the official left little question that military pilots have been briefed on what he called "the rules of engagement that we're using on how we will engage a potential adversary - shoo away the innocents and eliminate the hostiles."
"I'm not going to go into what precise rules of engagement we use in order to ensure that innocent folks are not harmed, but there is a set of procedures that we use to specifically address that question," said Col. Sam Dick, vice commander of the Air Force's 45th Space Wing, the military unit responsible for shuttle launch-day security.
"For those folks who are unfortunate to accidentally end up in that area, they may actually see some of our assets attempt to intercept and move them away. Our purpose is to keep them from reaching a point where decisions have to be made that would be adverse," he said.
"There are many, many steps we would take before we take that last step," he added.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on America, President Bush gave the military the authority to shoot down civilian aircraft if it became apparent they were under control of terrorists and posed a clear and present danger to the public.