[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule

Sat Sep 11 17:16:23 EDT 2004

                            LAUNCH ALERT

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

			              2004 September 11 (Saturday) 14:09 PDT
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		       VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
		           As of 2004 September 11

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

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. The Air Force will announce the
date and launch window about 36-hours in advance. Glory Trip 186?

OCT 18	~11:25?			Pegasus XL		   Offshore
Payload is NASA's DART satellite

Late NOV?	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.

JAN 19	16:00				Minotaur		   SLC-8
Payload is STP-R1 satellite

FEB		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. The Air Force will announce the
date and launch window about 36-hours in advance. Glory Trip 187GM

FEB 1		~02:00			Delta II		   SLC-2W
Payload is NOAA N environmental satellite. Launch time is based on
informed speculation

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Most times in this newsletter are given using a 24-hour format based
on military time. A page that explains military time is available on
my web site at:

    http://www.spacearchive.info/military.htm

This page has just been extensively revised and I would appreciate it
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at kd6nrp at earthlink.net.

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                FIRST LIGHT FOR AIRBORNE OBSERVATORY
                 Ames Research Center News Release

For the first time, scientists have peered at the stars using the
newly installed telescope aboard NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for
Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the largest airborne observatory in the
world.

During the night of Aug. 18-19 in its first 'on-sky test,' the
telescope was pointed at the star Polaris. A crisp white dot appeared
on astronomers' computer screens inside the aircraft, demonstrating
that the telescope's basic optical, mechanical and software systems
all are functioning properly.

"This is an important milestone from an engineering perspective,
because all the telescope subsystems have been integrated on the
aircraft for the first time, and it substantiates all the engineering
design and interface work performed on both sides of the Atlantic,"
said Kaiser Adeni of NASA Ames Research Center and NASA's deputy chief
engineer for the SOFIA Project.

"Our first look at a star shows that the most basic requirements for
observing with SOFIA have been met," said Dr. Ted Dunham, an
instrument scientist at the Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz., and
principal investigator for SOFIA's High-speed Imaging Photometer for
Occultations (HIPO) team.

While it was not designed to conduct any airborne science
observations, the test did provide a team of SOFIA scientists and
engineers on the ground with an opportunity to calibrate the
telescope and the newly installed HIPO, the first scientific
instrument aboard SOFIA. Scientists plan to conduct ground-based
observations of the sky aboard SOFIA for the next three weeks.

"This is more than a fantastic milestone for the observatory," said
Dr. Eric Becklin, chief scientist for SOFIA's prime contractor,
Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Columbia, Md. "It also
demonstrates the ability and teamwork of all the major participants in
the project."

Flying at altitudes above 40,000 feet, SOFIA will help astronomers
learn more about the birth of stars, the formation of solar systems,
the origin of complex molecules in space, the nature and evolution of
comets, how galaxies change with time and even the nature of the
mysterious black holes lying at the centers of some galaxies,
including our own.

Prior to the 'first look,' a team composed of scientists and
engineers from NASA Ames, USRA; L-3 Communications Integrated Systems,
Waco, Texas; and Lowell Observatory completed installation of HIPO on
SOFIA's complex telescope assembly.

Scientists use HIPO to provide high-speed, time-resolved imaging
photometry at two optical wavelengths. HIPO has a flexible optical
system and numerous readout modes, which allow many specialized
observations to be made. The primary function of HIPO is to observe
stellar occultations. During a stellar occultation, a star serves as
a small probe of the atmospheric structure of a solar system object,
or the surface density structure of a planetary ring or comet.

During observations over the next few weeks, the integration team
hopes to calibrate SOFIA's telescope subsystems using HIPO and see if
there are any distortions in the airborne observatory's telescope.

"Installation of HIPO is the final building block in the functional
integration process that has taken approximately five months," Adeni
said. "Now, over the next few weeks, we need to characterize the
behavior and performance of the telescope and make sure everything is
working the way it is supposed to."

NASA awarded a $484.2 million contract to USRA in December 1996 to
acquire, develop and operate SOFIA. Other team members include L-3
Communications Integrated Systems; Evergreen Airlines; the University
of California, Los Angeles, Berkeley and Santa Cruz, Calif.; the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco; and the SETI
Institute, Mountain View, Calif.

SOFIA's telescope assembly, a 98.4-inch (2.5 meter) aperture-diameter
telescope, was developed by DLR, the German Aerospace Center, located
in Bonn. MAN Technologies AG, Mainz and Augsburg, Germany, built the
telescope. Its optics and tracking system were supplied by
Kayser-Threde Corp., Munich, Germany. Several other sub-contractors
located in Europe also helped fabricate the complex telescope. The
telescope assembly was delivered to L-3 Communications in September
2002.

SOFIA will be based at NASA Ames Research Center in California's
Silicon Valley. Scientific management of the observatory operations
will be conducted for NASA by USRA. Evergreen Airlines will be
responsible for maintenance and flight operations.

For more information about SOFIA, please visit:

   http://sofia.nasa.gov

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