[Launch Alert] White Sands Launch

[Brian Webb]

                             LAUNCH ALERT

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

		                       2006 September 8 (Friday) 06:13 PDT
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                         WHITE SANDS LAUNCH

As mentioned in my previous Launch Alert, a dual missile firing is
slated for tomorrow morning (SEP 9) from White Sands, New Mexico as
part of a test of the THAAD missile defense system.

The demonstration involves the launch of a target missile and a THAAD
interceptor sometime between 04:00 and 06:00 MDT (03:00-05:00 PDT/
10:00-12:00 UTC).

I don't have any information regarding the intended missile flight
profiles or launch times. However, assuming one or more of the
missiles attains a maximum altitude of 50 miles (264,000 feet) and the
lighting conditions are correct, the sunlit missile exhaust would
theoretically be visible as far away as 692 miles.

Locations within a 692 mile radius of the launch site include San
Diego, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; and all of
Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

The best time for observers in outlying areas to look for the test and
its aftermath is probably between 05:00 MDT (04:00 PDT/11:00 UTC) and
local sunrise.

For advice on photographing missile launches, go to
www.spacearchive.info/vafbphoto.htm

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

Copyright © 2006 Brian Webb. All rights reserved. This newsletter may
be distributed in its entirety without restriction. Excerpts may be
not be reprinted or posted elsewhere without prior permission.