[TeMPOraL]

> Also, even in the event of everything in LEO blowing up, we can still launch to farther orbits / other planets.

It'd be risky though, since you have to cross LEO to get there (unless you're willing to pay the extra cost of launching to absurd inclinations and correcting in space).

[jandrese]

It would take an unbelievably catastrophic Kessler syndrome to make it too dangerous to boost through LEO. It's not a game of Asteroids, we're talking about collisions on a yearly or possibly monthly timeframe. Bad enough to ruin LEO for satellites, but not so bad that it blocks you from space entirely.

[TeMPOraL]

I still think a believably catastrophic Kessler syndrome would be risky enough that NASA and others would refrain from sending manned missions through LEO at low inclinations.

It's not a game of Asteroids, but it's also not as thin as the asteroid belt.