Dan Deak wrote: > The Atlas IIIB with a pair of NOSS satellites was launched as > scheduled at 7:41 UTC. > > I observed from my place but saw nothing of a rocket plume. > The Centaur was still firing but the sky was not very transparent. > > I will watch for the satellites on the next pass as long as > the sky doesn't get too cloudy. Spaceflight Now has just reported spacecraft separation. As reported earlier, I expect the two NOSS to be in approximately this orbit, and the Centaur upper stage to be nearby, in a slightly different orbit that remains to be determined from observations: 1 70999U 05034.37193286 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 08 2 70999 63.4167 155.0000 0132437 179.7272 98.8000 13.39694040 03 Hopefully, Dan and many others will have a view of the propellant dump when the spacecraft enter sunlight at 09:39 UTC, within range of much of the N. east of North America. Heavens-Above has the above elements. Weather here is overcast. Not very hopeful for the propellant dump pass, but a little more so for the second and final pass a bit before dawn. Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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