Thursday night rocket launch

[RickeyinLA]

Hey - we get to see a rocket lift off from Vandenberg around 9:24pm Thursday night -

LAUNCH STATUS
by Brian Webb

Thursday evening's launch of an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg
AFB remains on schedule. The rocket is slated to lift-off from Space
Launch Complex 3 at 21:24 (9:24 p.m.) PDT, the start of a launch
window of unknown duration.

The Atlas will initially rise vertically before it slowly pitches
over and heads southward. If the launch occurs as planned, the rocket
will carry The National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-34 payload into
into orbit.

The Atlas V for this launch consists of a liquid propellant core
vehicle with one solid fuel strap-on motor.

The launch window opens 1 hour and 54 minutes after Vandenberg AFB
sunset. It is therefore unlikely that the rocket will be high enough
for its exhaust plume to be illuminated by the Sun during the initial
portion of the launch.

In other words, this is a night event with some interference from
the first quarter Moon. That said, the launch could still be visible
to the naked eye as far away as San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Needles,
Yuma, the interior of northwest Mexico, AND THE COACHELLA CAMPGROUND - provided an observer
was looking at the right place at the right time and had an
unobstructed horizon.

Observers as far away as San Marcos Pass and possibly Santa Barbara
may hear a low rumble from the rocket about three minutes after
liftoff.

[frozen pilgrim]

fucking AWESOME. that's a big-ass rocket, too

[SDsoldier7]

i should bring my telescope

[elbrycen]

that should be awesome.

[billtino]

Thought this was another camping orgy thread in disguise. Pretty cool! I hope I can see it from the 10 freeway.

[Sublime]

that's pretty damn sick. which direction is Vandenberg from the campgrounds?

[aphrael]

Hey - we get to see a rocket lift off from Vandenberg around 9:24pm Thursday night -

LAUNCH STATUS
by Brian Webb

Thursday evening's launch of an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg
AFB remains on schedule. The rocket is slated to lift-off from Space
Launch Complex 3 at 21:24 (9:24 p.m.) PDT, the start of a launch
window of unknown duration.

The Atlas will initially rise vertically before it slowly pitches
over and heads southward. If the launch occurs as planned, the rocket
will carry The National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-34 payload into
into orbit.

The Atlas V for this launch consists of a liquid propellant core
vehicle with one solid fuel strap-on motor.

The launch window opens 1 hour and 54 minutes after Vandenberg AFB
sunset. It is therefore unlikely that the rocket will be high enough
for its exhaust plume to be illuminated by the Sun during the initial
portion of the launch.

In other words, this is a night event with some interference from
the first quarter Moon. That said, the launch could still be visible
to the naked eye as far away as San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Needles,
Yuma, the interior of northwest Mexico, AND THE COACHELLA CAMPGROUND - provided an observer
was looking at the right place at the right time and had an
unobstructed horizon.

Observers as far away as San Marcos Pass and possibly Santa Barbara
may hear a low rumble from the rocket about three minutes after
liftoff.

Neat.

One of the most surreal experiences I've ever had came when I was camping on the coast a bit south of Big Sur. My friends and I had walked out to a clearing overlooking the water, to watch the sunset and smoke a bowl. After the sun had disappeared but before it was dark (we found out later), there was a missile test launch from Vandenburg. The thing looked like it was coming right at us - this bright light in the sky with a contrail behind it (like a plane). Eventually it turned out over the ocean, and as it disappeared into the distance, we could make out both a point *and* a visual shock wave around the point. It was incredible, the more so because we really had no clue what it was until several days later when we got home and saw the news report.

[aphrael]

that's pretty damn sick. which direction is Vandenberg from the campgrounds?

Northwest. It's on the coast northwest of LA.

[lovethelake]

Very excited for this. But a few years ago, back when I was in UC Santa Barbara, I was fortunate enough to witness Vandenberg launch a missile... and then watch another intercepter missile shoot up at it and blow it up. After a quick googling, the "intercepter" missile was a "Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, or EKV". Freakin' cool. Saw the brightest fastest moving thing I've ever seen in the sky moving along the ocean, and then a smaller, even faster but not quite as bright light move up from what seemed the "ground/ocean" and go straight up to the brighter initial missile until impact and then BOOM both lights were out. So glad I was in the right place at the right time to watch that.

[knotted_donuts]

Very excited for this. But a few years ago, back when I was in UC Santa Barbara, I was fortunate enough to witness Vandenberg launch a missile... and then watch another intercepter missile shoot up at it and blow it up. After a quick googling, the "intercepter" missile was a "Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, or EKV". Freakin' cool. Saw the brightest fastest moving thing I've ever seen in the sky moving along the ocean, and then a smaller, even faster but not quite as bright light move up from what seemed the "ground/ocean" and go straight up to the brighter initial missile until impact and then BOOM both lights were out. So glad I was in the right place at the right time to watch that.

Wow... that sounds pretty sick. Saw some awesome plumes from Santa Barbara during sunset launches... Although, isn't Vandenberg a bit far from LA/Indio? I've had issues seeing the launches from LA, but then again, you have to compete with the smog from there. Perhaps the desert sky will provide us with a clear view.