and at odds with the DoD's public statements. The DoD presented only the worst-case assessments found in the public portions of the CIA's reports. With the ending of the Cold War, a delegation of US officials and experts were able to visit the site in July 1989. These observers noted a wide variety of evidence that the system—while intended to research the possibility of an anti-satellite laser capability—had never reached anywhere near the operational stage. The laser viewed by the US officials was extremely low-power, including the small size of the focusing optics and the uncooled director which would be incapable of handling a large laser. The lasers that they found were 1,000 times less powerful that the US's own MIRACL. The team dismissed the site as non-operational. When discussing the issue, Soviet officials were somewhat amused. They noted that the US public often had better information than their own military, and that excessive secrecy had led the Soviet citizenry to distrust the military's claims as to their own capabilities. Shuttle attack rumor Terra-3 is the topic of a widespread claim that the IR laser was used to target the Space Shuttle Challenger during its 6th orbital mission on 10 October 1984 (STS-41-G). According to reports by Steven Zaloga, the Shuttle was briefly illuminated and caused "malfunctions on the space shuttle and distress to the crew," causing the United States to file a diplomatic protest about the incident. This claim appears to have started with former Soviet officials, notably Boris Kononenko. The crew members and "knowledgeable members of the US intelligence community" have denied that the shuttle was illuminated by the Terra-3. See also Omega (laser) References Missile defense Space weapons Military lasers Science and technology in the Soviet Union Military installations of the Soviet Union