Titan IV launch from VAFB

Philip Chien (kc4yer@amsat.org)
Sun, 12 May 1996 13:39:55 -0400

I just got the launch azimuth, derived from NOTAMS data and basically puts
the nail in to the KH coffin.  The launch is going to the SouthEast, I'll
have to calculate the exact azimuth, but it's quite clearly not a sunsync
launch.

So best bet is a NOSS White Cloud cluster, similar to the NOSS 2-2 series
which was launched from Vandenberg a couple of years ago, and to the
satellites aboard the Titan IV which was lost in a launch accident a couple
years after that.

The later was incorrectly called Lacrosse by one source, but correctly
identified as NOSS by the "New York Times" and other research.  As Ted
Molczan correctly deduced earlier the launch time would bisect the NOSS 2-1
and 2-2 orbital planes, and would correspond to the launch time for the
satellites which were lost in the Titan IV accident precessed to this date.


Philip Chien, Earth News - space writer and consultant  PCHIEN@IDS.NET
   __                                 __^__          __________
  |   \                          +---/     \---+    (=========
  |____\___________              +---\_____/---+     //
  >____)|        | \__                    \  \______//___
 >/     |________|    \                   [         _____\
 >|____________________\                   \_______/
 Roger, go at throttle up         CHR$(32) the final frontier