Obama sees everything.
Posted on 08/28/2013 12:49:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE (CBSLA.com) — The largest rocket ever to be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base had a succesful lift-off Wednesday.
The Delta IV Heavy rocket was launched with a $1 billion spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) “in support of national defense,” according to aerospace engineering firm United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Once it reaches orbit in about two days, the classified payload is expected to be able to distinguish details back on Earth as minute as the make and model of an automobile.
ULA officials alerted the public about the launch through its Facebook and Twitter pages “so they wouldn’t be concerned when they felt their windows rattle and felt the vibrations,” Hennigan added.
The official launch time was initially scheduled for 10:52 a.m., but the actual launch did not take place until 11:03 PDT.
Los Angeles Times aerospace reporter Bill Hennigan told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO residents up and down the California coastline may hear – and even feel – the 235-foot rocket following the launch.
“It’s the largest rocket ever to be launched from Vandenberg,” Hennigan said. “They launched the same rocket in January of 2011, and it was so big, it caused such a stir, people were pulling off the road to see this and some people reported hearing it about 50 miles away.”
Click here to watch footage of the rocket launch on the ULA website
With this one they'll be able to do face recognition of you walking around in your backyard and tell the time from your wristwatch. Gotta stop those Christian terrorists donchano.
Maybe. Zhirinovsky threatened us with something like that a while back, if I recall rightly. Can America afford to be left behind in the space magnifying-glass race?
;-)
One of the original missions for the Shuttle was to launch from Vandenberg, snag a Soviet satellite in polar orbit, and return to California all in one orbit. That's why the Shuttle had larger than necessary wings, so it could make the glide back to California.
Obama sees everything.
Do they proof these things before printing them? If it wasn't in orbit already it would be a pile of rubble in the middle of the Mojave by now.
I suspect that would it makes more sense if it read:
Once it reaches final orbit in about two days.
Satellites are commonly launched into a low parking orbit before using an attached maneuvering stage to place the package into a higher, circular final orbit. Things launched from Vandenberg usually go into a polar orbit and placing them in a parking orbit first allows observations to be made of the actual orbital parameters before "tweaking" the satellite into it's exact final position.
Think of it as taking a train from New York to LA and then taking a taxi to your hotel downtown.
Regards,
GtG
the classified payload is expected to be able to distinguish details back on Earth as minute as the make and model of an automobile
Doesn’t look so big to me!
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