defense, secretary, robert, gates, held, press, conference, pearl, harbor, day, after, successful, shoot, down, u, s, satellite, by, missile, rear, uss, russell, one, three, ships, assigned, to, mission, said, shootdown, boosts, credibility, controversial, missile-defense, system, with, in, background, sailors, aboard, manned, rails, navy, parlance, as, they, awaited, arrival, boarded, crew, members, ensign, jason, garfield, left, lt, junior, grade, catherine, suthers, right, talked, about, ship, launching, which, similar, launch, that, brought, wednesday, commanding, officer, cmdr, jeff, weston, far, walked, past, way