Western Railroad Discussion > UP Coast Line Pausing for Tonight's Atlas V Launch??

Spy Satellite (among others) taking flight from Vandenberg AFB in Santa Barbara County, CA. Launch willow begins tonight at 23:17 PST. Should be a cold clear night across Southern California for easy late night viewing. Anticipated 123° launch trajectory should lift the rocket SSE over the coastal waters off Ventura, Los Angeles, and Orange Counties, then directly over downtown San Diego.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/12/atlas-v-launch-nrol-39-vandenberg/
http://www.spaceflight101.com/atlas-v-nrol-39-launch-updates.html

Mr. MRL

Thanks for the reminder.
...and yes, I do believe they hold all traffic on the Coast for launches.

I looks like you will be able to view the launch on Spaceflight Now in a live webcast.
It looks like it is still on for a 11:13 launch time.

All of the commercial air traffic from Northern California into LAX is also re-routed as well as planes flying out of LAX are held before a Vandenberg AFB launch. I noticed that after 11:00PM PST, there were no planes taking off from LAX and from 11:12PM PST, there were no planes approaching from off Oxnard on their way over Santa Monica on their glide path before the right-hander over Downtown LA and into LAX. I could not see the Atlas V tonight but I am sure that I heard a distant rumble of her rockets; or maybe it was a sonic boom, as she raced high above towards San Diego at about 11:16:45 PST.

Don
Santa Monica



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/13 00:12 by 2472Don.

Looked great from Ventura, low rumble. Watched the staging through binoculars.

Info about the launch: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/12/atlas-v-launch-nrol-39-vandenberg/

Local L.A. news warned there may be sonic booms. I can't recall that ever happening with a Vandenburg launch. Just more media shock hype to get people's attention? Or a legit possibility?

Saw it from my vantage point near the LA/Orange County line in Cerritos, CA some 150+ miles away, nice amber glow with a faint tail.

Mr. MRL - back to trains...

Watched it from 13th st in Lompoc, 2 miles from the SLC-3E launch pad. These are the best launches to watch, cause u can get up close, and see the rocket on the launch pad. Nice sized crowd on hand. Classic Atlas launch with lots of loud crackling and popping. Stage separation is always more visible/pronounced at night, and this one was spectacular, with large web-like streams coming off. Doubt there was any coast traffic at the time to hold up.

It was an excellent view from the Bakersfield, CA side! I saw several launches over the years while on the coast run. Surf would call, or (after Surf was closed) the dispatcher would call, and ask if you can be by Vandenburg AFB by such and such time, or hold back until after the launch. Seems I always 'held' the train in position for the best view! Up close, and personal... some great views, and memories.

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

The Gemco-Guadalup train last night was early coming north, met #11 at Ellwood which was an hour late and then a baretable/repo train at Gaviota about 8 PM. They had asked for a 9 or 9:30 PM ride at Guadalupe to Santa Maria hotel room, so I am sure they beat the window for closing the tracks.

Why does the link say

"Belle lifted off from the pad, beginning her ascent
into orbit. The vehicle rolled to the proper launch
azimuth, flying southwest out over the Pacific."

Does it make a left turn once over the ocean?

It goes straight up (more or less) up to approx 80,000 to 100,000 ft, then noses over to the southwest, to achieve the run to orbit.
They call it a turn, but it is actually a nose over.

Another good current info source is -
www.spacearchive.info/vafbsked.htm
I've met the chap that runs it (Brian Webb); he is a 'with it' dude.
...Lorenzo

Watched it fly by west of San Diego!!

Watched until it disappeared!

Interesting sight! I remember watching the
Space Shuttle fly by back in the 90s!!

Mike

I went out to the front yard (in San Gabriel) to see if there were any signs of the flight, but A) it was chilly, and B) a skunk showed up (and not the Cal Western kind) so I retreated to the warm confines of the Duarte Northern terminal. Skunks are said to spray only if annoyed, but I didn't want to find out what this critter's definition of "annoyed" was.

As SPLoopConductor can testifiy, I was the SP's Assistant Trainmaster at Surf from 1977 until 1982, and we didn't hold trains for most of the launches. We had a direct line from the Surf depot to launch control, and I had to be there 3 hours ahead of the launch window opening to provide train information.
As we were there first, we had the right of way.

This launch had a very short window, and we would sometimes have a train slow down a little, but as we are only looking at five minutes of hazard, we never had to stop one in five years.
There was also a lead signal maintainer with me, whose job was to motor car the track to check for debris in case a missle had to be destroyed.

Vandenberg waited for Numbers 12 and 13, and 17 and 18 (the Medfly.)

Many of these launch windows were for four hours, so it was really a non-issue.
G