[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule

[Launch Alert]

                             LAUNCH ALERT
 				  
                              Brian Webb
                     Ventura County, California
                  launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
                        www.spacearchive.info
		       
                                   2015 March 1 (Sunday) 19:01 PST
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                   VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE

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

JUN 6           To be announced          Delta IV            SLC-6
Vehicle will launch the classified NROL-45 payload for the U.S.
National Reconnaissance Office. The liquid propellant first stage will
use two strap-on solid rocket motors.  

JUL             To be announced          Falcon 9            SLC-4E
Vehicle will launch the Jason 3 scientific satellite. Delayed from
March 31. Launch date is currently to be determined. A new target
launch date is expected in mid-February.  

AUG 27          To be announced          Atlas V             SLC-3
Vehicle will launch the classified NROL-55 payload for the U.S.
National Reconnaissance Office. The liquid propellant first stage will
use two strap-on solid rocket motors.  

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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                      LAUNCH CREATES LIGHT SHOW
                            by Brian Webb

Observers across a wide area of the Southwest were treated to an
unusual light show last Wednesday morning thanks to an Air Force
experiment launched from White Sands, NM. 

A Terrier-Black Brant sounding rocket lifted off from White Sands
Missile Range at 5:26 a.m. Mountain Standard Time and released small
amounts of samarium vapor in near-Earth space to create clouds of
plasma, or ionized gas. The purpose of the Air Force Research
Laboratory experiment was to study the processes responsible for
formation of the Earth's ionosphere. 

According to media reports, the experiment produced a purple steak or
pink cloud that was seen in Arizona and New Mexico. 

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Copyright 2015, Brian Webb. All rights reserved. No portion of this
newsletter may be used without identifying Launch Alert as the
source and providing a functioning hyperlink or text that point to
http://www.spacearchive.info/newsletter.htm.