Re: Launch info for the next Titan-4

Floyd Weaver (fweaver@nbn.net)
Tue, 4 Nov 1997 02:38:16 -0500 (EST)

	How visivible will this be from the US east coast? It looks like
it will be closer to the coast than a shuttle flight to Mir (55
inclination orbit and a launch azimuth about ten degrees to the right of 
the shuttles). Does the Titan-4 follow a similar path to orbit? I'd hope
it climbs higher during powered flight than the shuttles 70 miles because
then I will be able to see it higher than 10 degree elv. If any of you can
give a good estimate of the launch time, to the narrow the offical two
hour window, would be very helpfull. Any other pluses or minuses?

	I saw one launch of the shuttle from the locate below and would
enjoy seeing more.

Floyd Weaver
3 miles north of Lebanon Pa.
40.389N 76.417W
http://users.nbn.net/~fweaver

On Thu, 30 Oct 1997, Agapov Vladimir wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Here is unclassified (U) information from the ILAM message 
> for the next Titan-4 launch.
> 
> Best regards,
>       Vladimir Agapov.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> LAUNCH INFORMATION
> 
> (U)  NAME:  TITAN IV/A-17/K-20/TC-16
> (U)  LAUNCH AGENCY:  5 SPACE LAUNCH SQUADRON
> (U)  LAUNCH SITE:  EASTERN RANGE
> (U)  LAUNCH AZIMUTH:  037.9000 DEG
> (U)  LAUNCH WINDOW: 01 NOV 97 0045Z TO 01 NOV 97 0245Z
> (U)  LAUNCH VEHICLE: TITAN IVA
> 
> 
> NOMINAL ORBITS
>                                     PARKING ORBIT    TRANSFER ORBIT
> EPOCH (D/HH:MM:SS.SSS):             305/00:58:52.000 305/01:48:57.000
> PERIOD (MIN):                         88.193          484.207
> INCLINATION (DEG):                   55.060           55.049
> ECCENTRICITY (DEG):                 0.000032         0.677763
> SEMI-MAJOR AXIS (KM):                6563.2256       20425.8946
> ARGUMENT OF PERIGEE (DEG):          299.968          262.623
> RA OF ASCENDING NODE (DEG):         310.308          310.050
> MEAN ANOMALY (DEG):                 127.538            1.775
> START ORBIT TIME (HHH:MM:SS.SSS)MET:000:13:52.000    001:03:57.000
> END ORBIT TIME (HHH:MM:SS.SSS)MET:  001:03:57.000    002:13:12.000
> HEIGHT (KM):                          191.1184         278.8667
> INJECTION LATITUDE (DEG):            49.38N           54.862S
> INJECTION LONGITUDE (DEG):          309.32E          161.524E
> INJECTION INERTIAL AZIMUTH (DEG):    61.262           82.542
> INJECTION TIME (D/HH:MM:SS.SSS):    305/00:58:52.000 305/01:48:57.000
> 
>                                     SPACECRAFT SEPAR
> EPOCH (D/HH:MM:SS.SSS):             305/02:58:12.000
> PERIOD (MIN):                        713.840
> INCLINATION (DEG):                   63.553
> ECCENTRICITY (DEG):                 0.717333
> SEMI-MAJOR AXIS (KM):               26458.2399
> ARGUMENT OF PERIGEE (DEG):          271.422
> RA OF ASCENDING NODE (DEG):         314.622
> MEAN ANOMALY (DEG):                  34.695
> START ORBIT TIME (HHH:MM:SS.SSS)MET:002:13:12.000
> END ORBIT TIME (HHH:MM:SS.SSS)MET:  013:00:00.000
> HEIGHT (KM):                        14974.7365
> INJECTION LATITUDE (DEG):            31.05N
> INJECTION LONGITUDE (DEG):          247.07E
> INJECTION INERTIAL AZIMUTH (DEG):    31.326
> INJECTION TIME (D/HH:MM:SS.SSS):    305/02:58:12.000
> 
> 
> SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
> 
> (U)  LIFTOFF TO INJECTION:
> EVENT                        HH:MM:SS
> LIFTOFF                      00:00:00
> STAGE 1 IGNITION             00:01:55
> TCA JETTISON                 00:01:56
> SRMU SEPARATION              00;02:03
> PAYLOAD FAIRING SEPARATION   00:03:56
> STAGE 1 SHUTDOWN             00:05:06
> STAGE 2 IGNITION             00:05:06
> STAGE 2 SHUTDOWN             00:08:50
> CENTAUR MECO 1               00:13:43
> PARK ORBIT INJECTION         00:13:52
> CENTAUR MES 2                00:59:18
> CENTAUR MECO 2               01:03:26
> TRANSFER ORBIT INJECTION     01:03;57
> CENTAUR MES 3                01:55:31
> CENTAUR MECO 3               01:56:28
> FINAL ORBIT INJECTION        01:57:09
> SPACECRAFT SEPARATION        02:13:12                                
> 
> 
> GENERAL INFORMATION
> 
> (U)  OBJECTS TO ACHIEVE ORBIT: TWO - PAYLOAD AND CENTAUR R/B 
> PAYLOAD IS 40 FEET BY 15 FEET. CENTAUR ROCKETBODY IS 29 FEET BY 14 FEET
>                                                                      
> (U)  LAUNCH VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: TITAN IVA
>                                                                      
> (U)  MISSION NARRATIVE: CLASSIFIED 
>                                                                      
> (U)  COMMUNICATIONS FREQUENCIES
> ROCKETBODY:       2287.5MHZ          20 WATTS(S-BAND)                
>                   2255.5MHZ          7.5 WATTS    WIDEBAND INSTRUMENT
>                                                                      
> (U)  OBJECT DESIGNATIONS:
>                                                             INT      
> OBJECT                        COMMON NAME                   DSG  CTY 
> PAYLOAD                       USA XXX                       A    US  
> ROCKETBODY                    TITAN 4A CENTAUR R/B          B    US  
> 
> 
>