[Launch Alert] Wednesday Missile Launch

Mon, 8 Sep 2003 19:41:25 -0700

            ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

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

	    Reaching more than 2,250 e-mail addresses worldwide

				           2003 September 8 (Monday) 19:34 PDT
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		          MINUTEMAN LAUNCH WEDNESDAY

A Minuteman III strategic missile is scheduled for launch from
Vandenberg AFB before dawn on Wednesday morning, September 10th. The
routine test will send three unarmed warheads on a ballistic
(non-orbital) trajectory to the central Pacific.

The vehicle will probably leave its silo at northwest Vandenberg at
04:31 PDT or sometime shortly afterward. The launch window extends
from 04:31 to 10:31 PDT.

The vehicle will quickly climb into the night sky and send the
warheads on a 30-minute trip to the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein
atoll, some 4,200 nautical miles downrange.

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         The following is a news release from Vandenberg AFB

                        MINUTEMAN III LAUNCH

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - The 30th Space Wing, the 576th
Flight Test Squadron and a task force from the 91st Space Wing, Minot
AFB, N.D., are scheduled to launch an unarmed Minuteman III
intercontinental ballistic missile Sept. 10 from North Vandenberg as
part of Force Development Evaluation. The launch window is scheduled
from 4:31 to 10:31 a.m. Pacific Standard Time*.

Capt. Rob Light, 576th FLTS, will direct launch activities. Mission
Director for this launch is Lt. Col. Anthony Blaylock, 576th FLTS
commander. Col. Wayne Louis, 30th Space Wing vice commander, will be
the spacelift commander, or final go/no go for the launch.

The missile�s three unarmed re-entry vehicles are expected to travel
approximately 4,200 miles in about 30 minutes, hitting a
pre-determined target at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the western
chain of the Marshall Islands.

*This should say Pacific Daylight Time - Editor
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                     MINUTEMAN III FLIGHT EVENTS

The following table is a generic listing of flight events for
Minuteman III launches from Vandenberg AFB. The times and altitudes
may vary for each launch.

                                                         Downrange
Time                                      Altitude	   Distance
mm:ss                Event                  (NM)	     (NM)
-----       -----------------------       --------       ---------
00:00       Stage 1 ignition           	    0               0
01:01       Stage 2 ignition                 16              18
02:06       Stage 3 ignition                 49             120
03:05       Stage 3 separation              123             210

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		                  GLOSSARY

mm:ss	Minutes and seconds
NM	Nautical miles. A nautical mile is 6,076.115 feet in length.
	The statute mile used in everday life is 5,280 feet long.
PDT	Pacific Daylight Time
PST	Pacific Standard Time