Wow. Just wow. We saw the Spacex launch Transporter 7 from Vandenberg AFB (SFB?) from my bedroom window, at 11:47 pm last Friday……from 166 miles away! We were lucky to have one of those extremely clear nights, no marine layer of fog, and looking out our window to the south, there was a break between the Monterey pine trees across the street, and some tall eucalyptus trees off some distance. And precisely on time, we saw the launch. Had the live feed on my tablet, but we were all eyes on the horizon. There, lifting up rather quickly was the Spacex rocket with an extremely bright red glow below it. It lifted up, and up, then seemed to stop lifting as it made it’s roll to begin heading S-SW. Next time, I’m setting up the video camera because this was unreal. From so far away.
As a kid growing up in the Monterey Bay area in the 1960’s, we’d occasionally see ICBM tests being launched from Vandenberg, but they would head N=NW to the North Pacific, I assume, to crash harmlessly into the ocean. If launched in the evening the strange cyan glow path would travel left to right, South to North, over the Pacific and easily seen from any vantage point on land. So seeing this Spacex Launch was special. Now that I have the bug, I read on the Vandenberg website that an ICBM Minuteman III readiness test is scheduled to be launched on April 19 at about 11:30. Of course, no fanfare, no live YouTube feed, so it’ll be a “stare and wait” night. Hopefully we’ll get the same light show as we did back in the 60’s.
17 replies on “We saw Spacex Launch from over 100 miles away.”
I live where launches from Wallops Island can be seen, time and conditions permitting. I usually have a “launch party” on my back lawn to watch those. All the neighbors come over, I set up a pad or tablet with the local cameras showing the launch from Wallops. The video is usually several to 30 seconds late and we’re usually seeing the rocket plume above the horizon about the time the video shows liftoff.
A fair proportion of the ISS resupply launches are out of Wallops Island so this can happen up to several times a year.
Thank’s ACTS. Before your post, I had NO IDEA there were “non ICBM” launches of any kind from anywhere but the Cape and Vandenberg SFB. Cool to learn, and yeah, I just looked at Google Earth. Just didn’t even know that place existed! Wonder what kind of rocket lifts supplies to ISS?
On a different topic….
My question to Bill for tonight was straight from the Vandenberg SFB website where it talked about the Transporter 7 SpaceX mission last monday. I’ll quote the site:
“A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 51 payloads, including CubeSats, MicroSats, hosted payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time, launches 14 April 2023 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. In conjunction with this launch,”
What in the world would be an Orbital Transfer Vehicle carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time? What’s an Orbital Transfer Vehicle? And, what “spacecraft” would be deployed at a later time?????
Thoughts, ACTS? And golly I miss the old DM functionality of the site.
Oh, and Ron Swanson Alter Ego, care to chime in on this too?
unfortunately I live much too far from Wallops Island (app 300 mi straight line) and in a bowl for us to see those launches. Every once in awhile the ISS in a position to be able to see it in the right sky conditions. But not often enough, and always at an inconvenient time.
I do love watching the Space X feeds.
Never got to Canaveral during a launch. Hoping Elon keeps this up long enough for me to make a trip to TX to watch on of those live.
Were you able to get a sense of the actual speed from that distance? Or does it just look like a red dart?
“Ron”, it was screaming fast straight up. You know how when looking at a 747 coming in to land, or just taking off, about 600 ‘ up in the air, it’s going really fast but looks like it’s just hanging there? This Falcon 9 was moving vertically fast, and with our horizon as a focal point you could see the speed. Couple that with the distance and yeah, it was moovin!
As one of our resident rocket surgeons by hobby, I was really asking you what you thought was up with Space Force’s Orbital Transfer Vehicle, and what you thought they might be up to?
Not up on that, will have to do some research.
But your first comment about a 747 coming in to land reminds me of the time I saw a C5 Galaxy coming in. It seemed to be the same size and almost not moving forever. Then all of a sudden, this enormous plane was screaming in.
That’s why I wanted to know if the angle was right for you to see the climb. I bet it was awesome. And I don’t use that word often.
1973, I was 13 years old visiting my older brother who was stationed at Fort Dix NJ when I saw my only in person view of a real live C5. Wasn’t taking off, or landing. Just sitting there with it’s engines screeching, and unforgettable sound… and the size of it was beyond my 13 year old brain to comprehend. I’d seen 747’s, but this C5 was so Big, So FAT, so beefy that I could not understand how it could fly at all!
I actually think seeing a C5 fly may have been the reason I studied what I did. I wanted to KNOW how something so ginormous could get off the ground, and stay there.
And yea, it’s huge.
Some categorize them as BUFFs, but to me there is something very cool about something that big getting aloft. And carry over 80 tons doing it.
Damn right you are, “Ron”. Big? Yup! Ugly? Uh huh. Flying? Of course! But “Ron”, what’s the last F?
Big Ugly Fat F’er – Thought that was common knowledge.
Ron….Ron-Ron-Ron….RON.
I just hoped you’d type it!.
I frigging love the Bill Whittle members!
Some of the wisest folks on the planet.
Hope to catch another SpaceX launch from Vandenberg just to share the experience with you folks!
Years ago I lived in Charleston SC and there’s a C-5 base around there somewhere. I used to see them flying all the time. Amazing aircraft.
The ISS resupply rockets launched from Wallops Island are usually Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft lifted on an Antares booster. It’s a medium-large beast that can lift north of 4 tons of materials to the ISS.
There are other launches from Wallops too. Next monday they’ll be tossing a sounding rocket (Terrier-Improved Malemute). Those are zippy lil’ buggers.
There are more science packages and various kinds of rockets to lift them too. They run a fairly busy schedule at Wallops, for a small spaceport that served and also still serves as a Navy runway.
The last one I watched was the best launch I’d ever seen. I can’t remember what the rocket was or what the payload was for, darn that oldtimer’s disease. It was spectacular and beautiful.
Mission NG-19 is coming up sometime this summer, or so the scuttlebutt goes. That’ll be a Cygnus/Antares package for ISS resupply but it’s not firmly scheduled yet.
Did they take the DM/PM function away from us? I didn’t know that so you ‘learned’ me something too. Bummer, I should have copied and pasted Jeremy Amsden’s begging me to write and do research for him and my polite refusal whereupon he turned on me like a snake and thus therefrom proceeded all the animosity. He was very complimentary of my views and my writing, right up until I said “No” and then things went south in a big way. If there’s no more DM then that is lost evidentiary-wise. Not a big deal, I don’t really care what Jeremy or any other self appointed zealot apocalyptist thinks or says but … Drag.
Probably too much sniping and backbiting in the DM. The usual ‘one bad apple spoils the whole barrel’ thing. I had some interesting conversations in the DM. I also used that to settle some ire, smooth some feathers and explain, privately, that having opposing ideas doesn’t mean we have to be enemies and that sort of thing. People have also asked me for information that I don’t mind giving to a friend but still not the kind of thing I want to post on a public forum.
It might also be that the DM function had to be cut for economic or IT purposes too. I guess we’ll never know.
I didn’t use DM a lot but I’ll miss it now that I know it’s gone.
Another name for an ‘orbital transfer vehicle’ is “space tug”. The orbital transfer bit means a vehicle that is used to transfer spaceborne cargo from one orbit to another orbit that has different energy characteristics. Whereby presumably the cargo will then be deployed in its final service configuration.
That said, I don’t get the “to be deployed at a later time” part. Why put something up there that isn’t going to get used either immediately or is not being positioned for being used soonest?
That sounds a little spooky to me. Like maybe we’re building a Rods from God facility, nuclear pumped lasers, or something really cool like that. Cool because we’re the only ones who could do that unnoticed and we’re the only ones who have the tech. Makes for a nice surprise for any adversary that might get a wee bit too uppity.
Those sorts of things can have a spiritual aspect too. They keep people like Vlad, Xi, Kim and that ilk looking heavenwards.
Space Tug. Ok, that kind of makes sense. Cheaper and safer than tugging something around with a Dragon Capsule.
I asked our esteemed membership and of course Bill first, but now I have a better idea what they might have thrown up there after reading your reply.
I had just assumed it was something like a bunch of swarming sat killerz which would disable sats from angry adversaries.
Imagine running wild again. Thanks for a more obvious and objective look at this. However, gotta love “Rods from God” facility…..
DM’s probably got yanked due to cost to maintain (an earlier Scott Ott explanation as to why it got yanked) but most likely abusive behavior member to member. I guess an obscure and un interesting forum post buried in the forum would be a nice place to communicate member to member, out of the way. Humm.
The leaving something for (much) later may have as much to do with positioning and availability of orbits. That whole window thing that NASA talks about (which is different from a SpaceX test fire window). If you are trying to hit a certain point (x,y and z) at a certain time, not all launch times are equal.
Anything that needed to get reached by a Russian rocket is not ideally located due to where Russia’s launch site is.
And yes, the DM went away awhile back due to cost and I think general lack of use. I queried Scott on it quite some time ago and it was not a widely used feature.
Hope tonight is the night for that Minuteman ICBM launch from Vandenberg SFB, 11:40 pm ish. clear skies again over central california. Could be a cool launch, unarmed of course!
Oops….as Maxwell Smart would say, “Missed it by that much, Chief”
Gotta take a closer look at the day and time! Thought it was tonight, ended up being very very early this morning! Maybe next time!