FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Rocket Launch last nite.....

[J D Maddy <j4380014@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was leaving Bullhead heading towards Kingman over the mountain when I saw it 
in the rear view mirror. I pulled off and watched it for about 30 minutes. At 
the horizon, it started as a  red-orange tail and snaked up in a zig-zag 
pattern to bright white heading towards the large circular plume from the 
second or third stage separation. The particles from the fuel seemed to glisten 
like a globular cluster at the separation. And it was huge. It quickly 
dissipated, but the tail glowed for a while. The California radio stations 
talked about it almost until I reached Phoenix. That was my first launch. My 
wife, who lived at Vandeburg, has seen dozens at the base. Very unique 
experience.

-----Original Message-----
From:   Thad Robosson [SMTP:starstarcracker@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent:   Friday, September 20, 2002 7:39 AM
To:     az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:        [AZ-Observing] Rocket Launch last nite.....

Hey all, 

Did anyone else get lucky enough to witness last nite's rocket launch from 
Vandenberg?  

I happened to step out on the back porch just around 7:15pm or so, and saw what 
looked like a searchlight aimed down through a lot of dust.  As the "light" 
rose and the "dust" bloom got wider and wider, it occurred to me that it was a 
rocket launch.  Once the light blinked out, it left a very large luminous oval 
shaped dome behind, bigger than my fist at arm's length.  There was no color to 
it, and it was very interesting as I hadn't seen one without an obvious 
contrail twisting in the winds.  (Not that I've seen all that many...)

And now, a question....  Is there a website that gives the dates and times of 
these lauches?  I can't imagine that they're all that secret while the media 
gives away the all the info of our "covert" operations overseas....

Thad



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