[Launch Alert] SpaceShipOne Soars into History
Brian Webb
kd6nrp at earthlink.net
Thu Jul 1 00:13:23 EDT 2004
LAUNCH ALERT
Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
E-mail: kd6nrp at earthlink.net
Web Site: http://www.spacearchive.info
2004 June 30 (Wednesday) 20:59 PDT
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SpaceShipOne SOARS INTO HISTORY
History's first privately funded manned spaceflight took place above
the California desert last week. Mike Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne to
an altitude of 62 miles (100 km) and landed safely at Mojave airport.
Launch Alert reader John was at Mojave airport for the flight and
provided this account:
"This morning, along with about 15,000 other people and a larger radio
and TV audience, I saw a little bit of history unfold at the Mojave
Airport. By now you have all seen accounts of it and maybe you were
there. The first known civilian spacecraft was launched and the pilot
reached about 62 miles altitude before gliding back to a landing on
the runway in front of us.
I started out from Springville about 10PM and arrived at the airport
at 1230.AM. Instead of lining up, the cars were going in and parking
under the glare of some portable lights. The west wind was constant
and blowing up to about 30 MPH, so it wasn't pleasant outside the car.
I found a spot and joined a couple hundred cars already there, the
pioneers of thousands that were to arrive over the next 6 hours. Some
people were trying to sleep, others standing around bent into the wind
which prevented much conversation, and nearly blew a couple's tent
away nearby my spot, which was along the fence looking east onto the
runway.
It started to brighten about 0430 and the sun came up following Venus
at about 0540. By this time the crowd had grown enormously, the wind
died down quite a bit, and a feeling of growing anticipation also
grew with the sunrise. The dozens of porta-potties were doing a brisk
business, and people were carting their camp chairs, binoculars,
cameras and kids to the area set aside for people to watch. You
couldn't take a car over there, so I stayed put even though ultimately
I missed some of the roll-out and later exhibition of the spacecraft.
I had so much stuff, I didn't want to leave it! Tethered by technology
might be a good phrase to describe the situation. While I had gone to
make a potty call and checked out the viewing area, a lady from
Hanford and a couple from Sonoma had set up more or less in front of
the car. I had to reclaim a little space which I did by hauling my 7'
scope ladder out and setting it up right between my car and the fence.
One of the most remembered things about this trip will be how the
local country and western station handled their live coverage of the
event. Commentary was indispersed with commercials and very country
country music! I found the combination pretty hilarious. Apparently
folks over in that area compete to see who can be more country. The
Old West is alive and well in the Mojave, yessereebob!
Anyhoo, the mothership, called the White Knight with the little rocket
plane nestled against its belly finally taxied out and rolled slowly
down to the end of the runway. After a few checks by a ground crew,
the twin jet finally rolled and started gaining speed at about 0643,
a little behind their schedule. By this time it was getting hot and
mercifully the wind had all but stopped howling. Two chase planes went
before the mother ship and a jet trainer also used as a high altitude
chase plane followed a few minutes later. The White Knight gained
altitude slowly, and it and the Starship twin pusher turboprop camera
chase plane became hard to see at certain atitudes when the Sun didn't
glint off their white paint. At about 30,000 feet, all the planes
started making contrails, which allowed easy tracking as they made
ever widening circles while gaining height to the 50,000 foot launch
altitude. They finally made a huge figure 8 and flew off toward the
northeast to the launch point. Most of us lost view because by this
time they stopped making contrails so were very hard to see.
The P.A. announcer and radio commentator did their best to do the
countdown and tell us which direction to look, which turned out to be
directly into the increasingly blinding Sun. I didn't even try to find
the aircraft for fear of being blinded, they were that close, but when
the "Ignition!" command came out, everybody cheered and the brown
smoke trail of the rocket could be seen coming right up out of the Sun
for the 80 second burn of the rocket engine.
With the 16x70s I could just see the spacecraft at the end of the
whitening plume. The SpaceShipOne little craft then glided upwards
after burnout to about 63 miles, making the pilot, Mike Melville, a
new astronaut and the first one from a civilian company. The
commercialization of manned space had begun! Now the Rutan company and
its sponsor for this project, billionaire Paul Allen, will gear up for
the flights to win the $10,000,000 Ansari prize, which will require
two flights within 2 weeks with either a crew of 3 or the equivalent
in weight of 3 people, to the same 100km altitude reached today. If
they win the prize, it will repay about 1/2 the $20,000,000 invested
so far by Allen. Their goal, they swear, is not to win the prize, but
to start civilianizing space, and the prize is incidental.
The trip back down from altitude seemed a bit faster (45 mins) than
the climb up, but the rocket plane actually glides quite well, and it
landed gracefully after making a sweeping turn over the northeast side
of the airport. It was followed closely by the chase planes which
later did a victory pass over the crowd and the now-landed spaceplane.
Their flyby was the most impressive thing that happened that morning
physically, and you could tell by the pilots' actions that they were
happy happy guys, as well as the audience which broke into spontaneous
cheering after the flyby and when the pilot opened the hatch and
stepped out of the rocket. Unlike the Shuttle, this plane uses an
unexotic fuel with nitrous oxide as the oxidizer, so no after-flight
precautions were needed as with the larger vehicle. The South African
born pilot was seen by the crowd standing on his craft with both arms
raised in a victory salute, and as they towed it back to the hanger,
sitting on the fuselage like a steed, which indeed it was.
So I got some great memories out of the trip, some halfway shaky video
(which I haven't looked at yet), and a desire to go over to Mojave
again for the next flight! With this experience I will know just where
to go and where to take my ladder! And I have my $10 ticket, some
pictures, and a little bit of history."
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SUBMARINE USS LOUISVILLE LAUNCHES TOMAHAWK IN WEST COAST TEST
Naval Air Systems Command News Release
A U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missile was launched this week* from USS
LOUISVILLE (SSN-724), a submerged LOS ANGELES-Class submarine underway
in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern Calif. The missile flew
a land attack mission, launching from the Naval Air Systems Command
(NAVAIR) sea ranges.
Seconds after launch from the submarine's torpedo tube, the Tomahawk
missile transitioned to cruise flight. It flew a fully guided
530-nautical mile test flight using global positioning satellite
navigation to a target and recovery site on the NAVAIR land range.
Included in this test event, the mission was planned onboard the
launch platform, a capability developed for the new Tactical Tomahawk
Weapons System. This new capability allows the fleet to reduce the
time required to plan and execute a Tomahawk mission.
Tomahawk missiles are deployed throughout the world's oceans on
numerous surface ships and submarines, including AEGIS-Class Cruisers,
Guided Missile Destroyers, and SEAWOLF and LOS ANGELES-Class
submarines.
As in all Tomahawk flight tests, air route safety was carefully
planned in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration. For
safety purposes, the Tomahawk could have been guided by commands from
safety chase aircraft.
The Tomahawk program is managed by the Program Executive Office,
Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation (PEO(W)) co-located at the
NAVAIR complex in Patuxent River, Maryland. The missile is
manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ. Tomahawk is a
registered trademark of the United States Navy.
* The flight apparently took place between June 21 and 24.
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VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
As of 2004 June 30
Launch
Time/Window
Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Pad/Silo
-------- ----------------- ---------- --------
JUL? To be announced Minuteman III ---
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is one warhead (probably a
Mk-12). Impact area is in the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in the
central Pacific. Postponed following two unsuccessful launch attempts
on March 24th. Glory Trip 184GM
JUL To be announced Peacekeeper ---
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is unarmed warheads (probably
Mk-21). Impact area is in the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in the
central Pacific. Glory Trip 33PA?
JUL 10 03:01:57-03:04:57 Delta II SLC-2W
Payload is NASA's AURA scientific satellite. This pre-dawn launch
should be visible over a wide area.
SEP? 10:00-13:00 Falcon I SLC-3W
Payload is the Naval Research Laboratory's TacSat-1 satellite. The
launch window is fixed and does not change if the launch date changes.
SEP To be announced Minuteman III ---
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is one or more unarmed
warheads (probably Mk-12). Impact area is in the Reagan Test Site at
Kwajalein in the central Pacific. Glory Trip 186?
OCT 18 Unknown Pegasus XL Offshore
Payload is DART satellite
NOV 9 08:00-10:00 Minotaur SLC-8
Payload is XSS-11 satellite
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Southern California Astronomical Events
for 2004 July
Time
Date (PST/PDT) Event
-------- --------- -----------------------------
JUL 2 04:09 Full Moon
Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise and is visible all night
JUL 8 10:00 Saturn Conjunction
Saturn passes behind the Sun and is lost in the Sun's glare
JUL 9 00:34 Last Quarter Moon
Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon
JUL 10 16:00 Planetary Conjunction
Mercury and Mars 0.2° apart
JUL 15-18 --- Star Party
Mountain Astronomers Rendezvous and Starparty, Grand Mesa, Colorado
http://www.coloradowestastronomy.org/SP04.html
JUL 17 04:24 New Moon
Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and is invisible. Moon rises
at sunrise and sets at sunset
JUL 17-18 --- Dark Sky Weekend
Best time this month to observe faint objects. Amateur astronomers
will hold observing sessions from dark sites
JUL 20-24 --- Convention
AstroCon 2004, Oakland, California. http://www.astrocon2004.org
JUL 24 20:37 First Quarter Moon
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight
JUL 26 20:00 Mercury Eastern Elongation
Elusive Mercury attains its greatest angular separation from the Sun
and is visible low in the west at dusk
JUL 31 11:05 Full Moon
Second full moon this month. Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise
and is visible all night
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Copyright © 2004 Brian Webb. All rights reserved. This newsletter may
be distributed in its entirety without restriction. Excerpts may be
reprinted elsewhere without permission if the source is clearly
identified as follows:
Reprinted from Launch Alert (www.spacearchive.info/newsletter.htm)
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