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ULA Delta Heavy IV Launch - August 28, 2013


Mr Shifty

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ULA launch scheduled for this morning from Vandenberg at 10:52AM PST (local). The launch vehicle, named Victoria, is only the second DIV-H to be flown from Vandenberg and only the 7th overall since its introduction in 2002. They're launching a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload, which is mostly likely a Keyhole satellite to fill a gap in the KH-11 consellation:

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/08/ula-delta-iv-h-launch-nrol-65/

SpaceflightNow should have live video nearer to the launch:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d364/status.html

ULA will also host a livestream:

http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/Webcast.shtml

Edited by Mr Shifty
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That is one thing I dearly love about space, it's hard to keep secrets in space.

Yeah, if you read the NASASpaceFlight article, it's pretty neat to see how amateurs can determine that given publicly available info: DIV-H launch capability, time of the launch, Notices to Airmen, launch site, etc

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Yeah, if you read the NASASpaceFlight article, it's pretty neat to see how amateurs can determine that given publicly available info: DIV-H launch capability, time of the launch, Notices to Airmen, launch site, etc

I have a question, are launch from Vandenberg considered to be more "secret" than those from Cape Canaveral?

that is, are classified payloads launched preferably from there?

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I have a question, are launch from Vandenberg considered to be more "secret" than those from Cape Canaveral?

that is, are classified payloads launched preferably from there?

Pretty sure that launch sites are chosen based on mission characteristics, not on need for classification. Vandenberg launches are typically for polar orbits, while KSC is used for eastward launches.

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That was actually pretty cool. We had four of us clustered around a PC screen eating our lunches and watching. Ran outside to see if we could see anything (from San Diego); perfect visibility today, but it's way too bright to see rocket engines from that distance -- no smoke trail for that LH2/LO2 fuel.

Looked like they still need to work on the fireball problem though.

Edited by Mr Shifty
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That was actually pretty cool. We had four of us clustered around a PC screen eating our lunches and watching. Ran outside to see if we could see anything (from San Diego); perfect visibility today, but it's way too bright to see rocket engines from that distance -- no smoke trail for that LH2/LO2 fuel.

I wondered if anything would have been visible from the LA area or the Channel Islands? Maybe with a telescope? From the graphics, it appeared to have been launched on a south easterly trajectory.

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I saw it. I was 100 miles away in the Ventura area, and could see the exhaust cloud that was made, and a small gray smudge that was the rocket, but then it stopped making exhaust, and the smudge vanished, leaving the fire from the engines; it was a mere red dot though.

I was called to attention to it by walking to my third period class and teachers saying "HEY LOOK ITS OVER THERE, MRS.xxxxxxx IT'S THERE!" and I looked at it and everyone was like "wwooahh"

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