Posted on 03/06/2009 4:30:28 PM PST by KevinDavis
9 minutes in, way the heck down range, coming up on end of second stage burn 15,994mph
SECO second engine cut off
losing signal with antigua shortly..
39 minutes from now, australia should pick it up..
love to watch launches, thanks all,
......Bob
“I was thinking why can’t we modify the Delta to send Astronauts to the Space Station or send them to the moon??”
Delta II? Not enough throw weight. It can only get around 13,000 pounds to LEO. That’s about the weight of just the Apollo command module.
A Delta IV Heavy could launch an Orion to the Space Station. It can loft 51,000 pounds to LEO. It even has a 5 meter payload shroud. (Orion is 5 meters.) But it is a new vehicle, despite the name.
I waited and waited, expecting to see the launch. Nothing happened. I waited a few more minutes, then gave up and turned to go back into my door. They must have scrubbed it, I thought.
As I turned away, the corner of my eye caught something glowing and golden. I turned and looked....and what to my wondering eyes did appear but an incandescent orb, day-glo amber-gold, round like a huge flaming basketball in the sky. I watched it in utter fascination.
The golden globe then appeared to be moving upward ever more slowly, but I realized that it had already started its arc straight eastward over the Atlantic ocean.
I spotted my neighbors saying goodby to company and yelled at them to look upward as I pointed and hollered. All six of them joined me till the orb disappeared in a cloud bank, only to reappear after 5 minutes, much smaller to our eyes as it continued eastward.....and then, down to the size of a pinhead to our eyes, it disappeared.
My neighbors were so happy I had flagged them to see the sight that the hostess brought over two slices of homemade fresh blueberry streusel kuchen to reward me.
All in all, a rewarding evening all the way around.
Leni
Cape Canaveral Blast bump!
Thanks so much for sharing, Leni! Sorry I missed it!!
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