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December 5, 2001
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Wednesday
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Ramazan 19, 1422
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Helicopter intercepted near Space Center
CAPE CANAVERAL, Dec 4: An F-16 jet on Tuesday intercepted a helicopter flying inside the 55-kilometre zone over Kennedy Space Center here, the center’s security chief said.
“A helicopter was intercepted by an F-16,” said Colonel Sam Dick, adding: “We don’t believe it was malicious.”
He said the helicopter was “turned over to a sheriff’s helicopter that escorted it to the Merritt Island Airport.”
Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, officials ordered all air traffic within a 55-kilometer (34-mile) radius of Kennedy’s launch pad — where the Space Shuttle Endeavour now sits, awaiting its scheduled 2245 GMT Tuesday launch — to be frozen.
The shuttle will be the first US space shuttle launched since the attacks, which killed more than 3,400 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. —AFP
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