[Launch Alert] Launch Today

Sat, 11 Jan 2003 10:31:57 -0800

	     ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

			  Brian Webb, KD6NRP
		      Ventura County, California
		     E-mail: [email protected]
	      Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp

					    2003 January 11 (Saturday) 10:30 PST
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			ROCKET LAUNCH TODAY

A Delta II rocket with two scientific satellites is scheduled for
launch from Vandenberg AFB today at 16:45 PST, the start of a
45-minute launch window. The Delta will place the ICESat and CHIPSat
satellites into orbit.

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			LAUNCH VISIBILITY

If today's launch occurs on time, observers on the West Coast will
have a diminished view of the event because the Sun will be above the
horizon.

However, this will be an evening twilight launch for Arizona, Nevada,
and Utah and could be rather impressive.

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			COUNTDOWN STATUS

The best source of countdown status for the Delta II/ICESat/CHIPSat
launch is the Spaceflight Now web site. Space journalist Justin Ray is
now providing current countdown status on a web page devoted to this
launch. Point your browser to:

	http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d294/status.html

Be sure to regularly hit the refresh button on your browser to see the
latest information.