CA: VANDENBERG DUSK LAUNCH, 9/22

spave view ^ | 9/21/05

[BurbankKarl]

The first Vandenberg AFB dusk launch in nearly three years is slated for Thursday, September 22. The Minotaur booster is scheduled to lift- off from south Vandenberg at 19:24 PDT, the start of a 16-minute launch window.

Several minutes later, the rocket will place the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's Streak satellite into a polar orbit.

As seen from Santa Barbara, lift-off occurs 29 minutes after sunset. The Minotaur is expected to climb into sunlight during the second stage burn at about T+90 seconds. The exhaust plume will be illuminated by the sun and may create a nice display visible across a large part of the Southwest and western Mexico.

The launch may be visible until nearly T+13 minutes.

[KYGrandma]

Thanks for the pics. We were on the bus from the rental car drop off at the Las Vegas airport and saw it. We didn't know what it was, but it was neat.

[Neil E. Wright]

I use a Sony Mavica FD-85 .... I added the 2x Zoom lens for these shots ..... I missed separation of the 2nd stage because I am using a memory stick ... and it records the images slower than a standard FD .... :(

Except for the zoom lens, all settings are default to the camera ... I'm still playing with it and learning to use it to its best capabilities

[Black Tooth]

Your welcome KYGrandma! My pleasure.

I had like 100 second notice before launch, my wife, I and my kid were all yelling at each other to get the camera and get the shot. Neighbors must have thought we were killing each other. HA!

[Black Tooth]

Thanks Neil. Outstanding shots. Thank you for posting them.