Articles
Brian Webb (102670.1206@CompuServe.COM)
16 Aug 97 16:03:46 EDT
Here are some extracts from an e-mail based newsletter that I publish. If you are
interested in these articles, I can continue to post selected articles to this news
group.
Regards,
Brian Webb
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Launch Observations
Last month's daylight launch of a Delta II booster with five Iridium satel-
lites from Vandenberg AFB was seen by Don Peterson. Here are his comments:
"...I observed the Delta II launch yesterday morning 9 July, at 6:04 am, about
15 minutes after sunrise here in Ridgecrest. The launch was quite impressive,
with an orange flame and long exhaust trail as the rocket arched southward to
put 5 Iridium satellites into polar orbit. Ridgecrest is some 185 miles from
the launch site..."
On Friday afternoon, August 1st, a Pegasus launch vehicle placed the SEAWIF
satellite into a polar orbit. The launch vehicle was air-dropped from an
L-1011 aircraft based at Vandenberg AFB. The drop occurred at an altitude of
40,000 feet and about 60 miles off of California's central coast.
That afternoon two coworkers and I stood outside of our office in Camarillo
(about 100 miles SE of Vandenberg) and looked for the Pegasus launch, but we
we didn't see anything....but we only watched from 13:17-13:20; the launch may
have occurred about two minutes later. However, Dan in San Jose saw it and
sent me the following message:
"Awesome! I saw the SEAWIF launch, just now, in the southern sky of San Jose.
Classic rocket exhaust, no more than 10 degrees above the horizon, horizontal
at first, and then arcing upward (I saw the vapor trail as it was being made,
on the upward flight)..."
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Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule
As of Thursday AUG 14 18:00 PDT
Note: California uses PDT from mid-April to mid-October.
PDT = UTC - 7 hours; PST = UTC - 8 hours
Launch
Time/Window Launch
Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Comments
AUG? 22:00-02:00 Titan IV Payload is reconnaissance satellite
AUG 17 17:55:30 Delta II Payload is five Iridium satellites
AUG 21-22 23:51-00:07 LMLV Payload is Lewis satellite
AUG 28 07:30-09:00 Pegasus XL Payload is FORTE satellite. Missile will
be launched from aircraft staged from
Vandenberg AFB
SEP 15 Unknown Taurus Payload is Geosat satellite
SEP 17 01:01-07:01 Peacekeeper ICBM test launch
SEP 25 Unknown Delta II Payload is five Iridium satellites
NOV Unknown Taurus Payload is STEX spacecraft
NOV 05 00:01-06:01 Peacekeeper ICBM test launch
NOV 08 Unknown Delta II Payload is five Iridium satellites
DEC Unknown Pegasus XL Payload is TRACE satellite. Missile will
be launched from aircraft staged from
Vandenberg AFB
DEC Unknown Delta II Payload is Argos, Orsted, and Sunsat
satellites
DEC 01 Unknown LMLV Payload is Clark satellite
DEC 15 Unknown Pegasus XL Payload is ORBCOMM and SNOE satellites.
Missile will be launched from aircraft
staged from Vandenberg AFB
JAN 16 Unknown Minuteman II Ballistic missile defense test?
FEB 17 Unknown Titan II Payload is NOAA-K satellite
FEB 18 00:01-06:01 Minuteman III ICBM test launch
MAY 03 00:01-Unk Minuteman III ICBM test launch. First missile of a two
missile scenario
MAY 03 Unknown Minuteman III ICBM test launch. Second missile of a two
missile scenario
Launches are often rescheduled several times. For current launch status, call
the Vandenberg Launch Update Line at 805-734-8232 ext. 61857.
If a launch window is given, an attempt will be made to launch at the start of
the window. If a problem is encountered, the launch could be delayed and occur
at any time in the window, or be rescheduled for another day.
The above table was compiled from unclassified information obtained from Vanden-
berg AFB Public Affairs, the Kennedy Space Center, and other sources.
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