[Launch Alert] Booster Launch Successful

[Brian Webb]

                            LAUNCH ALERT
 				  
			           Brian Webb
		         Ventura County, California
		        E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net
	         Web Site: http://www.spacearchive.info

	   Reaching more than 2,380 e-mail addresses worldwide
 				       
				          2004 January 15 (Thursday) 18:54 PST
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                      BOOSTER LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL

A prototype Lockheed-Martin booster was successfully launched from
Vandenberg AFB on Friday morning, January 9th. The three-stage vehicle
lifted-off from silo LF-21 at 10:40 PST and sent a simulated
anti-missile interceptor downrange.

Lift-off was originally set for 10:00, but was delayed 40-minutes due
to weather.

The booster is one of two designs being developed simultaneously for
the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System. The boosters are
slated to carry the EKV, an anti-missile interceptor designed to
destroy warheads from long-range missiles by colliding with them at
high speed.

A photo of the launch is posted online at www.spacearchive.info.

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		       VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
			      As of 2004 January 15

			  Launch
			Time/Window
  Date		 (PST/PDT)		 Vehicle		Pad/Silo
--------		-----------	 	----------		--------

FEB 26		Unannounced		Taurus		SLC-576E
Payload is Taiwan's ROCSAT-2 satellite 

MAR			Unannounced		Minuteman III	LF-09
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is unarmed warheads. Impact
area is in the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in the central Pacific.
Glory Trip 184GM 

APR 20		09:59:00		Delta II		SLC-2W
Payload is NASA's Gravity Probe B satellite 

JUN			Unannounced		Minuteman III	LF-10
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is unarmed warheads. Impact
area is in the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in the central Pacific.
Glory Trip 185GM 

JUN 20		Unannounced		Delta II		SLC-2W
Payload is NASA's AURA scientific satellite 

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		                  GLOSSARY

EKV	      Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle. The anti-missile interceptor
	      designed to destroy missiles in space during the middle
            (midcourse) portion of their trajectory.

Glory Trip  Name given to strategic missile test launches (Glory Trip
            183GB, etc.)

LF-	      Launch facility. A missile silo (such as LF-10).

PDT	      Pacific Daylight Time

PST	      Pacific Standard Time

SLC-	      Space Launch Complex. A launch pad (SLC-2W for example).