[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule

Tue Nov 30 23:51:02 EST 2010

                             LAUNCH ALERT

                             Brian Webb
                     Ventura County, California
                 launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
                    http://www.spacearchive.info

                              2010 November 30 (Tuesday) 20:49 PST
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                   VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
                      As of 2010 November 30

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

DEC 14          To be announced        GBI               ---
Ground-based Interceptor launch. Vehicle will fly a ballistic
trajectory.  

JAN 11          To be announced        Delta IV Heavy    SLC-6
Vehicle will launch the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-49
payload  

FEB 5           To be announced        Minotaur I        SLC-8
Vehicle will launch the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-66
payload  

FEB 23          02:10                  Taurus XL         576E
Payload is the Glory scientific satellite. Vehicle will carry three
small satellites as secondary payloads: Explorer 1 Prime (Montana
State University), Hermes (University of Colorado), and KySat-1
(Kentucky space consortium).  

MAR 31          To be announced        Atlas V           SLC-3E
Vehicle will launch the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-34
payload  

JUN 9           Unknown                Delta II          SLC-2W
Vehicle will launch Argentina's SAC-D scientific satellite carrying
NASA's Aquarius instrument  

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.

All launch dates and times are given in Pacific Time using a 24-hour
format similar to military time (midnight = 00:00, 1:00 p.m. = 13:00,
11:00 p.m. = 23:00, etc.). 

The dates and times in this schedule may not agree with those on other
online launch schedules, including the official Vandenberg AFB
schedule because different sources were used, the information was
interpreted differently, and the schedules were updated at different
times. 

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          PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR FIRST LANDING OF X-37B 
                     Vandenberg AFB News Release
                             2010 NOV 30

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.-Preparations for the first landing
of the X-37B are underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base.  

Space professionals from the 30th Space Wing will monitor the de-orbit
and landing of the Air Force's first X-37B, called the Orbital Test
Vehicle 1 (OTV-1).  While the exact landing date and time will depend
on technical and weather considerations, it is expected to occur
between Friday, December 3, and Monday, December 6, 2010.

The X-37B is an unmanned, reusable spacecraft - Editor

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                         SIDEWINDER FOLLOW-UP

I recently described a Sidewinder air-to-air missile launch I saw at
Point Mugu back around late 1976.

A few Launch Alert readers said they had seen similar demonstrations
at Mugu. The most interesting account came from Joseph who said:

"Your story about the sidewinder launch brought back memories of my  
own Pt. Mugu observation of such.  In 1961, I was a patient at the  
U.S. Naval Hospital Balboa. A fellow officer, who I had met at the  
hospital, invited me and my date (and future wife!) to their Air  
Show. It was open to the public, and had events you likely no longer  
see. The Navy was managing the Pacific Missile Range in those days  
(the USAF had the east coast range management). During the show, a  
jet fighter, which had been converted to a drone, was remotely taken  
off, and climbed out of sight. Then, an A4D flew over the runway (at  
likely the altitude you observed), launched a missile (which was to  
serve as the sidewinder's target) and when it was out some distance  
from the aircraft, the A4D launched a sidewinder missile which  
tracked to the exhaust nozzle of the target rocket and blew it up as  
it passed just over the water. You are right - they are fast! Then  
an F4 took off from the runway in afterburner, and flew straight up!   
A pure vertical climb!  No one at that time had ever seen such a  
thing! [1961, you know!]  There were a number of other events, and  
then the crowd was directed to observe the jet drone at high altitude  
passing over. and then to observe the F4 coming up behind it and  
launching its sparrow missile at it.  The missile hit the drone, and  
it fell on fire into the Pacific!  I do not think they do such live  
firing with the public around any more, but it was an impressive  
display!"

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                             FOGGED FILM

Earlier this month, I photographed the evening launch of a Delta
rocket carrying the COSMO-4 satellite from Vandenberg AFB.

My primary camera was a Nikon D70 digital SLR. As a backup, I set up
a 35mm camera loaded with some vintage ASA 400 Fuji color print film.

The film was purchased in the late 1990s and kept frozen at -10 
degrees F until late October when it was allowed to warm up to room
temperature before being loaded.

I later developed the film. Although it recorded a good quality
launch image, the dark areas were filled with a faint white haze.

According to sources on the Internet, even if film is deep frozen, it
will eventually fog due to exposure to cosmic rays. Higher speed films
fog at a higher rate.

So, the white haze may be due to cosmic rays exposing the film.

This make me pause .... the film was inside a metal box and had some
shielding from natural radiation. I probably received as much, if not
more, radiation during the same time frame.

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