CA: Atlas 5 given green light for blastoff (West Coast Vandenberg AFB Launch, Thursday, 3:02 am PT)

Santa Maria Times ^ | 3/11/08

[El Gato]

Saturn V that took Apollo toward the moon?

Saturn V, a much larger bird, which could put much more payload into near earth orbit.

[NormsRevenge]

what happened to the “half stage” side mounted engines that are dropped off after providing the extra thrust needed to clear the launch tower, or silo as the case may be.

—

new configuration?

[NormsRevenge]

You’re welcome.

This link has a number of videos and pics of different launches.

http://www.spacearchive.info/vafbmultimedia.htm

[El Gato]

I just remembered, and checked out my recollection. The Atlas V uses a single Russian designed and P&W built, RD-180 engine.

Imagine using a Russian engine to launch an NRO payload.

Talk about The World Turned Upside Down Midi

[Quix]

Thought so.

But then . . . we have this from:

“We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity….. anything you can imagine we already know how to do.” Ben Rich, former Head of the Lockheed Skunk Works

[SoCalPol]

Saw the Launch the other evening on TV to the space station at 11:30pm That one lit up things.

[NormsRevenge]

This is from last night's launch

Spectators watch from a pier as the space shuttle Endeavour launches from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, early March 11, 2008. (Eric Thayer/Reuters)

[El Gato]

new configuration?

Yes, but not that new. I'd just forgotten, haven been well away from that business for a long time. They don't use them anymore, since the single Russian engine they replaced the center one with has plenty of thrust. But that started with aversion of the Atlas II, and was standard on the Atlas III. (There were a whole bunch of Atlas variants before Atlas II. I've seen a couple of them launched and another laying horizontal on it's transporter. All right there at Vandenberg. Summer of '71. AF ROTC field training. Most of the cadets were destined to become steely eyed missile men. Not this one though, and the other guy from my University detachment (465 U.of Nebraska-Lincoln) became an intell officer at SAC HQ, just 60 miles up the road. He didn't even have to move, since he already was living in Omaha. :)

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Launch time: 1002 GMT (6:02 a.m. EDT)
Launch site: SLC-3E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket (AV-006) will launch a classified spacecraft payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. It will be the first Atlas 5 launch from Vandenberg. The rocket will fly in the 411 vehicle configuration with a four-meter fairing, one strap-on solid rocket booster and a single-engine Centaur upper stage. Delayed from Spring and Nov. 15, 2006, Jan. and April 3, 2007, Feb. 19, Feb. 26 and Feb. 29.

[NormsRevenge]

lots of variants, specs on a few vehicle configs..

this one is a big ‘un..

http://www.spaceandtech.com/spacedata/elvs/atlas5_specs.shtml

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks! hard to see the srb on some of the shots..

[Walkingfeather]

Only time you see them is during the twilight launches. Sun has to be in the right position to shine up on the trails.

[Vince Ferrer]

Was it Atlas V or Saturn V that took Apollo toward the moon?

The Atlas V rocket is the latest in a series of rockets with different sizes and configurations with the Atlas name. The original was built for the Mercury space program in order to launch the Mercury astronauts. The first two astronauts did not use the Atlas, but the smaller Redstone, but John Glenn was the first to ride the Atlas into orbit. After the Mercury program, I don't think they have ever launched another human, but have been in service ever since launching unmanned payloads.

[Vince Ferrer]

Here are some scale models. On the far right, the Mercury Redstone. In the middle, the original Atlas. On the left is the Apollo Saturn.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Of course the Atlas was originally our first ICBM<.

I believe that these Vanderburg launches are all military, and they don’t give out much public information. Back in the 1980’s they were supposed to shoot off some Space Shuttles out there, but after the Challenger disaster they canceled that idea.

[Quix]

Wow.

Thanks for your thoughtful and informative posts.

[TalonDJ]

Actually in a twist of irony the design changes made during the shuttles development in order to enable it to launch from there made it too heavy for the pad they had already built for it at Vandenberg. So the idea was scrapped.

[Quix]

Thanks for the thoughtful and ineresting details.

[r9etb]

You wouldn’t happen to know which direction it’s traveling? North or South along the coast? I know it’s going up...

I believe they typically fly southward down the coast....

[r9etb]

I believe that these Vanderburg launches are all military, and they don’t give out much public information.

Certainly a lot of them are, but the real choice of Vandenberg vs. the Cape is the inclination of the target orbit. For inclinations greater than about 60 degrees, you've gotta launch from Vandenberg. There are some non-DoD payloads that meet the criterion....

For example, several of the Iridium satellites were launched out of Vandenberg.