USAF/NRO Delta IV launch re-set:

[super-bee_ski]

The USAF/and the National Reconnaissance Office (Spy satellite guys) have been trying to get this Monster off the ground for 3 weeks now. Another set-back but the good news is: So Cal, tonight, Thursday at 5:31 PM it is set to go.

Write up:
"The team is prepping for a 24-hour turnaround on Thursday, Dec. 20, from Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base," they added. "The forecast shows an 80 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for launch. The launch time is planned for 5:31 p.m. PST."

 

[super-bee_ski]

WE get spectacular views, especially at sunset/sunrise.....

 

[Speedbird]

Do you know if the engines on it are in anyway related to the technology that this documentary says was developed by the Russians?
In particular, as I understood the graphics, they were ahead of us in that they used the exhaust that was driving the fuel delivery system and captured the extra thrust.
While ours did not do that.

Cosmodrome
https://www.netflix.com/title/80119093

 

[69a100]

So then what was that thing last night? I don't subscribe so I don't know what it says. Hopefully it opens for you?
https://account.sacbee.com/static/paywall/stop?resume=223360715
Just the front page with a headline about it!
https://www.sacbee.com/

 

[super-bee_ski]

Do you know if the engines on it are in anyway related to the technology that this documentary says was developed by the Russians?
In particular, as I understood the graphics, they were ahead of us in that they used the exhaust that was driving the fuel delivery system and captured the extra thrust.
While ours did not do that.

Cosmodrome
https://www.netflix.com/title/80119093

Well, as "WE" all know, we picked up Dr. Werner Von Braun BUT they had:Sergei Pavlovich Korolev

Wikipedia:
Although Korolev trained as an aircraft designer, his greatest strengths proved to be in design integration, organization and strategic planning. Arrested on a false official charge as a "member of an anti-Soviet counter-revolutionary organization" (which would later be reduced to "saboteur of military technology"),[6] he was imprisoned in 1938 for almost six years, including some months in a Kolyma labour camp. Following his release he became a recognized rocket designer and a key figure in the development of the Soviet Intercontinental ballistic missile program. He later directed the Soviet space program and was made a Member of Soviet Academy of Sciences, overseeing the early successes of the Sputnik and Vostok projects including the first human Earth orbit mission by Yuri Alexeyvich Gagarin on 12 April 1961. Korolev's unexpected death in 1966 interrupted implementation of his plans for a Soviet manned Moon landing before the United States 1969 mission.
-Before his death he was officially identified only as Glavny Konstruktor (Главный Конструктор), or the Chief Designer, to protect him from possible cold war assassination attempts by the United States.[7] Even some of the cosmonauts who worked with him were unaware of his last name; he only went by Chief Designer.[5] Only following his death in 1966 was his identity revealed and he received the appropriate public recognition as the driving force behind Soviet accomplishments in space exploration during and following the International Geophysical Year.

Remember, they were the FIRST to put a Man in space, a satellite in orbit, Soft Landed a vehicle on Venus....on and on and on
AND: We RIDE to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket...
I do not know if we copied them, Im sure there was un-official Intelligence gathering going on...

 

[super-bee_ski]

Yeah

So then what was that thing last night? I don't subscribe so I don't know what it says. Hopefully it opens for you?
https://account.sacbee.com/static/paywall/stop?resume=223360715
Just the front page with a headline about it!
https://www.sacbee.com/

, WE were waiting for the Delta IV to go and we heard it scrubbed again, so we went back in to the Man Cave (My house next door, we have a pool table, Dart Board, two IGT Slot machines and 2 Big Screens...
AThe KTLA Local news from LA comes on (Local, Ha Ha, 985 miles away) and says it CANCELLED again.
I go back out to plug in the Christmas lights and sure enough, a Bit North of Bakersfield CA, I'd say up North of San Luis Obispo, its the sky is a certainly what appeared to be a Rocket (small) Con Trail...Plume...
And yet, the Delta IV is scheduled tonight.
So: My thinking was it was a Sounding Rocket like a "Black Bart" used to determine Wind Speeds at 112 Miles up, the Critical altitude for determining winds "out of Range" for an acceptable launch...Right?
Then, I hear that 69a100...Nor Cal, Strange Plume in the Sky, could have been a Meteor contrail "Vaping" skidding into our Atmosphere...
So: TRUST NO ONE!
Ha Ha...we certainly do not know....??

 

[super-bee_ski]

Yup, THAT is Exactly what "WE" saw....hmmmm

 

[69a100]

Maybe it was all the Trump haters, they built a rocket to leave Earth and it malfunctioned?
Maybe Santa doing a final Ops check of a new secret sleigh deployment system?
Aliens?

 

[DeltaV]

Do you know if the engines on it are in anyway related to the technology that this documentary says was developed by the Russians?
In particular, as I understood the graphics, they were ahead of us in that they used the exhaust that was driving the fuel delivery system and captured the extra thrust.
While ours did not do that.

Cosmodrome
https://www.netflix.com/title/80119093

The Delta family of rockets are powered by the RS-68A designed and built by Rocketdyne in the USA, not the Russians. The RS-68A engine fuel is liquid hydrogen and the oxidizer is liquid oxygen. The RS-68 was certified in December 2001 for use on Delta IV rockets. The RS-68A is not manned-flight rated by NASA, but an RS-68B was in the works (NASA Ares Program) for manned rocket flights. I heard that achieving a manned flight certification for the RS-68 would require around 200 design changes.

The Russian rocket engine you are remembering is the RD-180. The RD-180 is a rocket engine designed and built in Russia. It features a dual combustion chamber, dual-nozzle design and is fueled by kerosene and the oxidizer is liquid oxygen. Currently, RD-180 engines are used for the first stage of the US Atlas V launch vehicle. Also, the RD-180 received a manned flight certification from NASA in July 2018.

Note: There are good write-ups on Wikipedia.

 

[Budnicks]

Yeah

, WE were waiting for the Delta IV to go and we heard it scrubbed again, so we went back in to the Man Cave (My house next door, we have a pool table, Dart Board, two IGT Slot machines and 2 Big Screens...
AThe KTLA Local news from LA comes on (Local, Ha Ha, 985 miles away) and says it CANCELLED again.
I go back out to plug in the Christmas lights and sure enough, a Bit North of Bakersfield CA, I'd say up North of San Luis Obispo, its the sky is a certainly what appeared to be a Rocket (small) Con Trail...Plume...
And yet, the Delta IV is scheduled tonight.
So: My thinking was it was a Sounding Rocket like a "Black Bart" used to determine Wind Speeds at 112 Miles up, the Critical altitude for determining winds "out of Range" for an acceptable launch...Right?
Then, I hear that 69a100...Nor Cal, Strange Plume in the Sky, could have been a Meteor contrail "Vaping" skidding into our Atmosphere...
So: TRUST NO ONE!
Ha Ha...we certainly do not know....??

there was some different lights (like a rocket launch or missile )
in the sky (seemed like) west of here last evening too
there was a report of it (or something else) over the SF Bay Area too

I was teasing the neighbors kids "it is aliens"

carry on

 

[super-bee_ski]

Maybe it was all the Trump haters, they built a rocket to leave Earth and it malfunctioned?
Maybe Santa doing a final Ops check of a new secret sleigh deployment system?
Aliens?

Ha Ha....yeah...too funny!

 

[super-bee_ski]

there was some different lights (like a rocket launch or missile )
in the sky (seemed like) west of here last evening too
there was a report of it (or something else) over the SF Bay Area too

I was teasing the neighbors kids "it is aliens"

carry on

yeah, that is what I said...

 

[super-bee_ski]

Update on Launch
PER Space Launch News:
After the launch of a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base was called off Wednesday due to "indications of elevated hydrogen concentrations" in the booster engine section, officials will make another attempt in 10 days.

The next launch attempt will happen no sooner than Dec. 30, according to United Launch Alliance officials who will continue to investigate the cause of the latest delay.


The launch is set to be part of a mission, dubbed NROL-71, for the National Reconnaissance Office. The rocket's payload was not revealed.

 

[super-bee_ski]

 

[threewood]

Scrubbed...again. I would bet they have a small crack or leak in that suckers because this is the second such reason for cancellation.

 

[super-bee_ski]

at least the 3rd "Scrub"

 

[super-bee_ski]

Sadly, the 6th attempt....
So Cal is awaiting this launch with much anticipation....
BTW: I worked directly with this program while active duty...
The "Payload" on this thing is Bigger than a Gray Hound bus....

"Space Launch Now" news:
After unusual concentrations of hydrogen around the rocket foiled a launch attempt Dec. 19, United Launch Alliance said Friday that the company’s powerful Delta 4-Heavy launcher and a U.S. government spy satellite will remain grounded in California until at least Jan. 6 as engineers troubleshoot a small fuel leak.