As per a chapter excerpt from "The Stargate Chronicles" to be found here (rense.com),

Terra-3 was used against the United States of America (U.S.A.) Space Shuttle Challenger for an
attack on its’ mission while being flown over the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics (U.S.S.R.)!

This did so shock and anger the President Ronald Reagan Administration that orders
were being considered to treat this as an act of war against the United States of America
even though we were spying on the U.S.S.R. The Soviet diplomatic sources calmed the
fear and anger by stating they were just trying to annoy the space shuttle crew as they
passed over in flight and it was not meant to cause any serious harm to them. So, hitting a
craft in orbit with a very strong beam of an advanced Ruby Laser Weapon was not harm
ful? They claim it was only a warning shot. Yes, that may have very well started WWlll because of this action against this Space Shuttle Mission by the U.S.S.R. in 1984.

In other words, the USSR was telling the US that it already has a 'Star Wars' program, way back in 1984, and must have known what the payload of the shuttle was.

The Space Shuttle Challenger and the seven astronauts; after the fifth day of the mission
41-G, continued their earth orbit on its eight-day mission. On October 10 is when one of the most important mission functions began. The shuttle was orbiting 218 nautical miles above Soviet Kazakhstan over the Sary Shagan Research Center. An orbital photographic sequence of the region with the Large Format Spy Camera and a sweep with the Radiation Monitor was begun by the astronaut crew assigned to this important responsibility and the specialized equipment on board. Unknown by the shuttle crew, far below at the Terra-3 Sary Shagan Laser site, the Soviet Defense Ministry was very aware of the U.S. space intruder above. They had traced the path of the Challenger through space as it approached the U.S.S.R. and knew it was obviously spying on their highly secret testing of laser space weaponry. This angered Nikolai Ustinov, the Director of the base Central Design Bureau and son of a powerful Soviet leader, Dmitri Ustinov, who was the Minister of Defense in the Soviet Kremlin in Moscow. A very dangerous decision was made to aim the Terra-3 ruby laser weapon and target the U.S. Space Shuttle passing high above. A Laser warning beam was directed at and bathed the spacecraft with its powerful ray. The Challenger not realizing it was targeted and under attack by the Terra-3 laser began to experience dangerous on board systems problems within the orbiter instrumentation which is very important for safety and Clark C. McClelland - Terra-3 Soviet Space Weapon Was Used to Attack Space Shuttle Challenger Spy Mission 7 the return to earth later.
   
The seven astronauts began to get alarmingly ill and disoriented. Commander Bob Crippen
assessed it and was also ill and very puzzled. The crew was very concerned with their  disorientation and surprised to experience illnesses. Many were experienced crew members on previous missions and had not previously experienced these very strange physical feelings. For a period of time they remained ill as the shuttle continued through Soviet territory, none of the crew suspected the Terra-3 Laser as being responsible for what caused their illnesses or as what had interfered with the various critical on-board space shuttle systems. The attack had the potential of causing the space shuttle serious damage that could have brought it crashing to earth. The NASA crew was in danger of being lost. It would be a very critical act of obvious war, even though the U.S.A. and NASA were obviously on a spy mission over the U.S.S.R. WW lll was absolutely possible if diplomacy had not been successful.

The implication is that the USSR had its men, possibly some of the Libyan scientists, in NASA (and Russia probably still has sleeper agents there), some of whom it later activated in arranging the sabotage of Space Shuttle Challenger which exploded during takeoff in 1986. I make note also that around this time was the Chernobyl disaster which marked the beginning of the end of the USSR.

Was the destruction of the Columbia STS-107 because of the Israeli spy mission flown with a nuclear powered device called the MEIDEX (Mediterranean-Israel Dust Experiment) that had Americium-242 in it as a power source carried by Colonel Ilan Ramon? He was a Columbia crew member and an active Officer in the Israeli Air Force orbiting over Iraq and the Arab nations of the Middle East? Did this spy mission have an influence on what may have caused the so-called ‘accident’ on 1 February 2003? Furthermore, what manner of energy weapon could have led to the destruction of the Columbia, if at all a weapon or not caused it? What about the Apollo 1 ‘accident’ and the suspicious fire that broke out in the inner command capsule that resulted in the Clark C. McClelland - Terra-3 Soviet Space Weapon Was Used to Attack Space Shuttle Challenger Spy Mission 13 deaths of three friends of mine in 1967? I have more to say on this later; in future chapters. If you will, please allow me your attention about it at that time. For now I would like for you to know this chapter raises enough of the serious concerns from me and others about these missions mentioned here that I have brought to your attention and into question as to their causes being suspected sabotage by enemy operatives.

The decision to publish this particular chapter of the book is very interesting, and certainly not accidental. Perhaps an attempt is being made to draw some more lines in the sand to justify the taking of sides in a potential conflict against Russia. When we read this kind of information, we are being urged to take sides. We don't really know how much of this is true or accurate.