NK has a good location to disrupt a shuttle landing. While the big-sky-small-plane theory minimizes the chances of a direct missile strike, the possibility still exists and should be addressed by NASA. Also, what if NK intentionally destroys a missile to "shotgun" the flight path of a shuttle? What if they decide to test their first nuke on a missile launched "close enough"?
Just how mad is NK's dictator?
If it ever got that bad--which I doubt it could get--I am sure the shuttle trajectory could be altered by NASA to keep them clearly away from that part of the northern pacific. I think all KJI wants is a media splash. He saw how the US media (CNN, etc. which he watches in his fortified bunker) tied his launch to the Shuttle Launch....and he must have had a big, fat chuckle. With that kind of sick mindset, me thinks he is timing the next Taepodong-2 to 16 July just for more fun.