Vandenberg Launch Tonight

irish1967

Just thought some might be interested in this.

The Delta IV Heavy rocket is now scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:10 p.m. (9.10pm Irish Time) Thursday.
The new time was changed by 2 minutes to reduce the risk of a collision with any objects in space, according to officials.
The Delta IV is largest rocket ever launched from the West Coast.
Base officials say you can get the best views at Surf Beach, the peak of Harris Grade Road and the Corral Road viewing site in Lompoc. But, if you can't get away from work to watch the launch you can just head to our website. We will have live streaming video of the launch on KSBY.com. Just go to our home page and click on the banner.
Stay with KSBY.com, and be sure to watch KSBY News at 5 and 6 for the latest on the story.

Live launch feed here
http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/Flash_Webcast.shtml

Beeker

irish1967 wrote: »

Just thought some might be interested in this.

The Delta IV Heavy rocket is now scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:10 p.m. (9.10pm Irish Time) Thursday.
The new time was changed by 2 minutes to reduce the risk of a collision with any objects in space, according to officials.
The Delta IV is largest rocket ever launched from the West Coast.
Base officials say you can get the best views at Surf Beach, the peak of Harris Grade Road and the Corral Road viewing site in Lompoc. But, if you can't get away from work to watch the launch you can just head to our website. We will have live streaming video of the launch on KSBY.com. Just go to our home page and click on the banner.
Stay with KSBY.com, and be sure to watch KSBY News at 5 and 6 for the latest on the story.

Live launch feed here
http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/Flash_Webcast.shtml

Just watched it, it was a thing of beauty:) The launch took place from the launch pad that was built to launch the Space Shuttle {SLC-6}. Due to the Challenger accident in 1986, shuttle flights from the west coast never took place, pity because they would have been dramatic.

clln

And there it went,no live feed that i could find and the secrecy of military launchs though understandable is very annoying.

observers of the launch of this poweful rocket say a lot of debris was spotted after launch.





Liftoff



and debris falling,the Delta 4 is a powerful rocket but used by the military,it was launched under oversight of the United Launch Alliance.
They will launch anything as they are a commercial outfit,in this case it was from the west coast and for those who received the webcast was lost after 20 minutes,normal for military launch's.

the debris it is speculated was ice,

rccaulfield

Are they testing then?

clln

rccaulfield wrote: »

Are they testing then?

hi rccaulfield,all about the Delta's here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_IV

so you can see it is not on test,this launch was however the first one to launch from the west coast of the USA.This guy was first with it on youtube,he could watch on TV or through his window!
most i get to see from my window is a bus starting!:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zoyH599Gf0

irish1967

yeah it was very cool watching it live. Maybe i shouldn't have though. At sunrise a few mins ago I was out having the morning smoke when I saw this.... hmmmm.. a launch in Ireland?


Probably a plane at a very unusual angle. Though I do go out every morning and never saw anything like this before.

Beeker

irish1967 wrote: »

yeah it was very cool watching it live. Maybe i shouldn't have though. At sunrise a few mins ago I was out having the morning smoke when I saw this.... hmmmm.. a launch in Ireland?


Probably a plane at a very unusual angle. Though I do go out every morning and never saw anything like this before.

:eek: Plane contrail without a doubt.

Beeker

Real shame we never got to see the Space Shuttle launch from there!

Thargor

Thats one of the best pics Ive seen on this forum.

Beeker

Thargor wrote: »

Thats one of the best pics Ive seen on this forum.

Yeah it sure is cool. Great vantage point!

Conor108

USAF's Flickr photostream has some pics

clln

Conor108 wrote: »

USAF's Flickr photostream has some pics

very nice Conor, i suppose you have heard that amateur satellite trackers have already figured out what this top secret military payload is ?:D

Delta 4's hush-hush payload found and identified
The clandestine cargo carried into polar orbit Thursday aboard the first California-launched Delta 4-Heavy rocket was a crucial replacement satellite for the nation's surveillance and security network, amateur sky-watchers say.