Posted on 05/24/2006 3:54:11 PM PDT by Rockitz
A smooth countdown resulted in an on-time liftoff today for the GOES-N weather observatory aboard a Boeing Delta 4 rocket. Launch from Cape Canaveral happened at 6:11 p.m. EDT (2211 GMT).
(Excerpt) Read more at spaceflightnow.com ...
Sunset launches can be majestic - the vapor trail lights up and gets pulled in different directions.
When did the name Cape Canaveral which was changed to Cape Kennedy... change back to Cape Canaveral?
About 10 years later.
They kept Kennedy Space Center in it's place.
From Wikipedia:
From 1963 to 1973 it was called Cape Kennedy. President John F. Kennedy was an enthusiastic backer of the space program, and after his assassination in 1963, his widow Jacqueline Kennedy suggested to President Lyndon Johnson that renaming the Cape Canaveral facility would be an appropriate memorial. However, Johnson recommended the renaming not just of the facility, but of the entire cape. Accordingly, Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy.
Although the name change was approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names of the Interior Department in 1964, it was not popular in Florida, especially in the city of Cape Canaveral, Florida. In 1973 the state passed a law restoring the former 400-year-old name, and the Board went along. The Kennedy family issued a letter stating they "understood the decision"; Jacqueline Kennedy also stated if she had known that the Canaveral name had existed for 400 years, she never would have supported changing the name of the Cape. The Space Center itself retains the "Kennedy" name.
Thanks for the info. I guess that is the price I pay for relying on Rush and Drudge for news. A price I'm willing to continue paying.
There's another Delta launch today.
http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d316/status.html
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2006
1435 GMT (10:35 a.m. EDT)
The wheeled service tower has been driven back at pad 17A, revealing the Boeing Delta 2 rocket for blastoff at 5:34 p.m. EDT (2134 GMT) today carrying the U.S. military's Micro-Satellite Technology Experiment.
The gantry was used to stack the multi-stage vehicle atop the pad's launch mount, attach the nine strap-on solid motors and hoist the payloads aboard the rocket. The tower also provided the primary weather protection and worker access to the rocket during its stay on the oceanside complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The next several hours will be spent putting the final touches on the vehicle, configuring launch pad equipment and securing the complex.
The Terminal Countdown begins at 2:54 p.m. EDT, followed about 20 minutes later by fueling the first stage with kerosene propellant. Liquid oxygen starts flowing into the first stage just after 4 p.m.
To all of which, I would add that unmanned launches actually come from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, not Kennedy Space Center.
Stop it, you're asking government questions... Do you expect answers that make sense...... Stop it. Do not question the wisdom of the all powerfull
I'm a rocket guy, but I can speculate that this could easily have been a budget balancing move. They haven't flown the Shuttle for a while and had all of this money for space launch, therefore move up the satellite launch schedule. Also we don't want to be without a weather satellite so now we have a spare. There is extra capacity for many constellations including GPS. I think there are multiple spares up there now waiting for older ones to die.
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