1.   Anti-missile designers praise the kill vehicle as the apex of miniaturization and accuracy.

2.   A prototype booster rocket for carrying a kill vehicle failed in a test in December.

3.   But it later acknowledged that the kill vehicle had initially drifted off course and picked out a decoy balloon rather than the warhead.

4.   But it later was forced to acknowledge that the kill vehicle initially had drifted off course and picked out the large bright decoy balloon instead of the mock warhead.

5.   But later analysis showed that the kill vehicle had drifted off course and had initially homed in on a decoy balloon instead of the warhead.

6.   Critics of the program have asserted that the decoy, which happened to be drifting near the warhead, actually drew the kill vehicle toward the target.

7.   Even if the kill vehicle had successfully separated from its booster, the test would not have silenced critics.

8.   Even with all the coaching, the computer brain of the kill vehicle had selected a decoy balloon, Schwartz and other experts said in interviews.

9.   For the first time, a kill vehicle under development in the program would be shot into space to see if it could discriminate between a warhead and decoys.

10.   If the kill vehicle destroys the mock warhead, the sky will be filled with a blinding flash.