The 8-million-pound mobile service tower has been retracted from around the Atlas 5 rocket, revealing the 20-story-tall vehicle for liftoff at 7:13 p.m. PST today.
The ground crews are getting the gantry’s doors closed, plus finishing the final buttoning up of pad equipment over before all workers clear the pad for the remainder of the countdown.
Today’s launch will be the 10th Atlas 5 rocket to fly from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 3-East pad. The site underwent an extensive overhaul, with construction occurring in 2004 and 2005, to accommodate the larger and more powerful Atlas 5 family of rockets. Some of the major modifications included:
30-foot extension to mobile service tower
20-foot exhaust duct depth increase
250-ton Fixed Launch Platform installed
Significant ambient and cryogenic fluid ground system modifications
Complete replacement of the Ground Command/Control/Communication system
New and refurbished Launch Control/Mission Support Centers
Oh, cool! Didn’t know about this one.
California survived the global warming caused flooding (not to be confused with the global warming caused drought)? Or is this the space craft with two of every animal trying to escape?
I’ve witnessed dozens of Vandenberg launches..some close up and some at a distance of several hundred miles. I’ll be watching.
Hopefully the the potty talk and cute 12 year old quips don’t kick in here....
Usually I would know launches far in advance, but that was in my past life...Tx for the heads up...
Eh...I thought there is a MAJOR RAINSTORM there now...????
In 1977 I saw a rocket lift off from Vandenburg as I traveled south in an airliner. It was twilight, and it was SPECTACULAR.
Looks like they’ll go at the beginning of the window. I’ll take the kids outside to see what we can see. There are high clouds, but we should be able to see something with three solids.
Early 1960s American technology upgraded with a Russian engine?
re-set for **7:19 pm**
Is there anything Raytheon on board? DH works for Raytheon but does not discuss any details unless they are already public knowledge.
I just found this thread, so I’m late to the party. Looks like they held it up until I got here.
: )
Thanks for posting this, it was a successful lift off.
Thanks Jack. Caught it in time. Can’t quite see the trail from Reno. Not like living in Cocoa watching the orbiters go. LOL! Pretty good size fairing but probably not unusual for an NRO sat.