[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule

Sun Mar 1 13:21:00 EST 2009

                             LAUNCH ALERT

                              Brian Webb
                    Ventura County, California
                        kd6nrp at earthlink.net
                    http://www.spacearchive.info

                                   2009 March 1 (Sunday) 10:06 PST
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                   VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
                         As of 2009 March 1

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

APR 30         09:00-09:30              Minotaur        SLC-2W
Payload is unknown 

MAY 5          To be announced          Delta II        SLC-2W
Payload is the Missile Defense Agency's STSS ATRR satellite 

JUL             ~09:12                  Atlas V         SLC-3
Payload is the DMSP F18 military weather satellite.  

JUL            To be announced          Delta II        SLC-2W
Payload is the WorldView-2 commercial reconnaissance satellite.

The above schedule is a composite of unclassified information
approved for public release from government, industry, and other
sources. It represents the Editor's best effort to produce a schedule,
but may disagree with other sources. Details on military launches are
withheld until they are approved for public release. For official
information regarding Vandenberg AFB activities, go to
http://www.vandenberg.af.mil.

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

                    TAURUS XL LAUNCH OBSERVATIONS

The Editor received several observations of last Tuesday morning's
ill-fated Taurus XL launch from Vandenberg AFB. The following are a
few selected eye witness accounts.

Tom Gerald
Lompoc

I am down with a cold, but the rumble shook me out of bed and I
watched staging one from my bedroom window.

Phil Karn Jr

San Diego

The sky was clear, so we saw it visually here in San Diego. Picked it
up  during the Stage 0 burn perhaps a minute after launch, about the
same time as we typically pick up a Delta-II on a similar polar launch 
trajectory.

The plume was not as bright as those from multiple Delta SRBs but was 
very obvious to the naked eye as a bright moving yellow dot. Even in 
binoculars it was possible to see only the brightest parts of the
plume.

We saw Stage 0 burnout/Stage 1 ignition and separation; Stage 1
flight; Stage 1 burnout, a short coast, and Stage 2 ignition and burn.
We tracked it visually right up to Stage 2 burnout, roughly
south-southwest of us.

I saw nothing around the projected time of payload fairing jettison
but I would not expect to see anything at night. (I saw no jettisoned 
fairing on the NASA IR tracking camera either, though it seemed to
have no trouble seeing the rocket body even when no motor was
burning.)

Greg
Hermosa Beach

Very unfortunate... everything looked perfect from Hermosa Beach!
I attempted to shoot video with my small digital camera, but it didn't
come  out very good.

Don Peterson
Ridgecrest

I observed the launch from Ridgecrest, bright and clear. Watched as it
curved south toward polar orbit. So very sad it failed after 4th
stage!  

Dennis Dinga
Diamond Bar

Excellent viewing of the launch from Diamond Bar.  First stage was 
considerably brighter than the last Delta II nighttime launch. Saw 
the entire second stage burn clearly.

Craig Milo Rogers
Marina del Rey

Regardless of its final outcome, the Taurus XL launch was spectacular
as I viewed it from Marina del Rey.

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

                              ON THE WEB

A pre-mission audio report about this week's Taurus XL/OCO launch is
now available on the Internet. To hear it, click on the following
link:

  http://www.spacearchive.info/taurus-xl-oco.mp3

To access other audio reports, go to:

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

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