[Launch Alert] Classified Vandenberg Launch Gets Go-Ahead

[Brian Webb]

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

	   Reaching more than 2,440 e-mail addresses worldwide
 				       
					     2004 March 10 (Wednesday) 05:27 PST
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             CLASSIFIED VANDENBERG LAUNCH GETS GO-AHEAD

International Launch Services, a Lockheed Martin Corp. joint venture,
has received the go-ahead for the first Atlas V launch from Vandenberg
AFB. The launch will occur from SLC-3E, which is being refurbished to
support a late 2005 launch for this national security mission. 

The launch is for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), as one of
18 missions assigned to ILS and the Lockheed Martin-built Atlas V
rocket under the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle
(EELV) program. 

Information courtesy of International Launch Services

----------------------------------------------------------------------

			 VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
				As of 2004 March 10

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

MAR		Unannounced		Minuteman III	LF-09
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is one or more unarmed
warheads (probably Mk-12 warheads). Impact area is in the Reagan Test
Site at Kwajalein in the central Pacific. Glory Trip 184GM 

Late MAR	Unannounced		Taurus		SLC-576E
Payload is Taiwan's ROCSAT-2 satellite 

APR 17	10:09:12		Delta II		SLC-2W
Payload is NASA's Gravity Probe B satellite. In the event of a
postponement, launch time occurs 4 minutes earlier each day 

MAY 13	Unannounced		Falcon I		SLC-3W
Payload is the Naval Research Laboratory's TacSat-1 satellite 

JUN		Unannounced		Minuteman III	LF-10
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is one or more unarmed
warheads (probably Mk-12 warheads). Impact area is in the Reagan Test
Site at Kwajalein in the central Pacific. Glory Trip 185GM 

JUN 17	03:01:48		Delta II		SLC-2W
Payload is NASA's AURA scientific satellite 

JUL		Unannounced		Peacekeeper		LF-02
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is unarmed warheads (probably
Mk-21 warheads). Impact area is in the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein
in the central Pacific. Glory Trip 33PA? 

SEP		Unannounced		Minuteman III	LF-04
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is one or more unarmed
warheads (probably Mk-12 warheads). Impact area is in the Reagan Test
Site at Kwajalein in the central Pacific. Glory Trip 185GM? 

Mid-SEP	~03:00?		Delta II		SLC-2W
Payload is NOAA N environmental satellite  

----------------------------------------------------------------------

					GLOSSARY

~		Approximately
Glory Trip	Name given to strategic missile test launches
            (Glory Trip-183GB, etc.)
LF-		Launch facility. A missile silo (such as LF-10).
NOAA		National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
PDT		Pacific Daylight Time
PST		Pacific Standard Time
SLC-		Space Launch Complex. A launch pad (SLC-2W for example).