I'm guessing it's about over South America now.
Posted on 06/27/2006 7:34:43 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
Since this launch is just after sunset, weather permitting and no scubs, it will be visable over a wide area, best views of powered stage of launch, Southern Nevada, Arizona, southeastern California.
Cheer the Delta IV on! her first west coast flight with a secret payload that are the eyes and ears of our nations defense in the high frontier. Another bird to watch the bad guys.
Updates here..... http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d317/status.html
I'm guessing it's about over South America now.
I think we're gonna sneak up behind him and WHAP the LiL T'rd Wurld DiNKtator where the sun don't shine!!!
Classified satellite launched from California air base
http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California2/CA_Rocket_Launch_243200CA.shtml
The Associated Press
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE
A classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office was launched Tuesday night aboard a Boeing Delta 4 rocket.
The rocket blasted off at 8:33 p.m. PDT from the central coast, leaving a thin trail in the twilight sky.
The purpose of the mission was not revealed. The National Reconnaissance Office builds and manages the nation's spy satellites.
It was the first West Coast launch for the Delta 4 rocket, which has been launched five times from Cape Canaveral, Fla. At 20-stories high, it was the tallest rocket launched from Vandenberg.
The Delta 4 launch signals a military shift to cheaper space boosters.
Last year, Vandenberg launched its final Titan rocket, marking the end of an era for the workhorse rockets in favor of a new generation of rockets like the Delta 4 and Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5.
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On the Net:
Vandenberg Air Force Base: http://www.vandenberg.af.mil
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| Delta 4 launch ground track SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: September 28, 2005
|
Cruddy quality but that's how it looked from here.
Kinda like that freaky Bobby Lee on Madd TV???
Well I duped that, fusing around with the HTML....
Hey! That second one is GREAT, lainie!
I think the clouds blocked my view, I would have seen that.,
Faster, better, cheaper!!!
Discovery astronauts fly to Florida for launch this Saturday
I'm sure there'll be a thread here .. they had a "no go" last week that was overidden .. prayers for a safe flight.
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06:30 p.m., 06/21/06, Update: O'Connor, Scolese oppose launch on technical grounds but don't object to flight; Gerstenmaier says flight is first with system classified as posing 'unacceptable risk'
NASA's top safety official and the agency's chief engineer said today they opposed the shuttle Discovery's launch July 1 because of concern about so-called ice-frost ramps on the ship's external tank that could shed foam and cause catastrophic impact damage. In fact, Discovery's flight will be the first in shuttle history with a system formally classified in the "unacceptable risk" category.
Bryan O'Connor, director of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA headquarters in Washington, and Chris Scolese, the agency's chief engineer, both declined to concur with the decision to launch when signing an official Certificate of Flight Readiness, or CoFR, following a flight readiness review that ended Saturday.
But both men said today they viewed the issue as a threat to the vehicle - not a direct threat to the crew - and as such, they accepted NASA Administrator Mike Griffin's decision to press ahead with launch.
Griffin's decision raised concern in some quarters that NASA might not be paying enough attention to two of its top officials and repeating at least some of the management miscues that led to the 2003 Columbia disaster.
But Griffin and other senior managers insisted that was not the case and that O'Connor and Scolese presented their arguments in great detail and accepted the administrator's decision. In fact, when signing the CoFR document, both men wrote in by hand that they were officially no-go for launch but, since the issue did not threaten the crew, they did not object to proceeding with the flight.
O'Connor today acknowledged a perception problem with the seemingly contradictory positions, but said it was the result of the flight readiness review process and the engineering community's classification of the ice-frost ramps as "probable/catastrophic" in NASA's integrated risk matrix.
"When this first came up, most folks were pretty concernd about it," he said. "That concern level has been going down as we learn more about it, as we refine the models, we look at the data. We haven't changed the design, but there's a little bit of a shift toward more comfort than the other direction.
"I think we're just barely into the unacceptable risk area. I think it's unacceptable to the program to go fly in this condition. But I also believe if it's elevated to the right authority, an administrator (Griffin) who looks at it and with his understanding and his position in the agency who can accept it, then I felt like I was not going to lie down in the flame trench or throw my badge down."
But for purposes of the certification of flight readiness, "I was no go. Period," O'Connor said. "Now there's a second (hand-written) statement that says something to the effect that given this technical issue has already been elevated to the agency (Griffin) level and the risk has been accepted at the appropriate level by the agency as opposed to the program, I do not plan to appeal that.
"The reason that's a little strange is normally, if you just follow the rule book on how you have these reviews, you'd have your review and if there were a dissent there, then you'd have to go have another review to elevate it to agency level.
The administrator attended the review, he was the appeal level, he attended it and we discussed this issue the day before we all signed the CoFR statements. We got his acceptance of the risk formally, right there in the review. That's why I put two statements in there."
Said Scolese: "When it all came out, the view of myself was no-go for the flight because I believe we should repair it. But given the decision, and given the fact that we do have many options available to us to protect the crew - and the orbiter if we can effect a repair - the (engineering) community is not against the decision to fly."
I have a photo that my wife took. It was 2MB, I've reduced it to 120K. How do I attach it? Should I make it smaller?
Darn ..... I forgot about it.
DiverDave reminded me but I got busy and forgot to go outside. Did anyone from the Cenral Valley see it? Our air is horrible.
Hope you got pics, Diver.
Hey! That looks like somthin giddyin up ta go somewhere!!!
A Brad Bump!!! ;)
Huntsville, Ala is where the Army has some guys worrying about the Ballistic Defense Missiles....
bttt
That sure looks like it's gonna end up in polar orbit ta me!!! Would that be too polarizing to say something like that???
Amy, look at post #212...
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