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I have observed amateur rocket launches at the Dallas Area Rocket society launch at Frisco Texas. Since their rockets have reached 22,000' they must get FAA approval to launch their missiles.

The TWA 800 shootdown occurred at about 10,000 feet and the Soviet shoulder fired missiles have the range to accomplish the shoot down.

BTW when the autopsies were being comducted one of the forensic aides observed that the x-rays of the victims showed a great deal of shrapnel! the tech was fired by the FBI chief who was there to interfere with the NTSB crash investigators! I wonder why those xrays were classified!

Yes, I wasn't exactly clear. The Clinton administration ultimately said that the center fuel tank explosion caused the demise of TWA 800. It could not have been a ground launched missile, because only a few military grade missiles could have reached the altitude of TWA 800, at the time it exploded in air.

They assumed no terrorists - either foreign or domestic - had a missile that could have reached the flight AND were in a local position to have shot down the flight. So, ipso facto, the center fuel tank exploded, and it COULD NOT have been an act of terrorism.

Now I thought I heard the explosion occured at about 13,000 feet ASL, but that's from ancient memory, and I could be wrong. At either height, the assumption was that no type of hobbyist rocket could have impacted TWA 800, because they didn't go that high, and even if they did, someone would have to have been well out at sea to launch it on a trajectory that might have interferred with the flight.

I have no idea about the recent event in Houston - either a VERY large, powerful hobbyist rocket, or something much more serious. I don't expect a detailed report to ever be made known to the public, in either instance.