Synopsis

Tonight, Friday Oct 24th at there will be a Delta II rocket launch out of Vandenberg Air Force Base. There’s a one second long launch window at 7:28:21 pm PDT. The rocket will rise vertically, and then head south.

Look west northwest from Westlake Village.


Full Announcement

For those of us who happen to be in the western portion of LA County (and points north) with a clear view of the western sky this Friday evening a couple of minutes before 7:30p, this could be a visual treat.

LAUNCH ALERT

Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
kd6nrp@earthlink.net
http://www.spacearchive.info

2008 October 22 (Wednesday) 17:27 PDT

DELTA II LAUNCH

A Delta II rocket is scheduled for launch this Friday evening from Vandenberg AFB. The Delta is scheduled to lift-off from Space Launch Complex 2-West, at 19:28:21 PDT during a launch window that is one second long.

The Delta will rise vertically for a few seconds before slowly pitching over and heading south. The booster will later deliver Italy’s COSMO-3 satellite into a near-polar orbit.

After it becomes operational, COSMO-3 will provide high-resolution radar images of Earth.

Weather permitting, the launch should be visible for at least 200 miles.

MISSION BACKGROUND

Detailed information about the Delta II/COSMO-3 launch is available on the Internet at:

Click to access COSMO3_Mbook.pdf

COUNTDOWN STATUS

Boeing will simulcast Friday’s launch on the World Wide Web at:

http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bls/missions/cosmo-3/

Another possible source of countdown status for the launch is the Spaceflight Now web site. Point your browser to:

Home

On launch day, be sure to regularly hit the refresh button on your browser to see the latest information.

Boeing will broadcast the launch throughout the continental United States at:

Satellite: AMC 16 K22
Orbital Location: 85 Degrees West
36 MHz transponder
UL: 14440 MHz Vertical
DL: 12140 MHz Horizontal
Audio: Channel 1 (6.2) English and Channel 2 (6.8) Italian

The broadcast will begin at 6:15 p.m. PDT and will conclude at 9:30
p.m. PDT.

Copyright 2008 Brian Webb. All rights reserved. This newsletter may
be distributed in its entirety without restriction. Excerpts may not
be reprinted or posted elsewhere without prior permission.