Take me to the Moon Ladee

General astronomy-related discussion (publicly viewable)
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BobSikes
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Take me to the Moon Ladee

Unread post by BobSikes »

Whatzup tonight? Anyone ever see a Moon Launch :shock: ?

Well, we may have a chance tonight. From Space Weather at about "11:27 p.m. EDT, a Minataur V rocket carrying NASA's LADEE moon probe will blast off from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Sky watchers along a broad swath of the US east coast from Maine to the Carolinas can see the launch."

Not an Apollo mission, but so what. I'll be watching, low and to the Southwest about a minute after launch.

Please post your observations. God's Speed LADEE.

BobS

Link to details

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Mission ... ndex.shtml

http://www.spaceweather.com/


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Simulated view from Cape Cod
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Bruce D
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Re: Take me to the Moon Ladee

Unread post by Bruce D »

I could see it just fine, thanks for the heads-up Bob!
Bruce D
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BobSikes
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Re: Take me to the Moon Ladee

Unread post by BobSikes »

Beam me up Scotty!

I spotted LADEE just after the 3rd stage burn as it finally cleared a huge oak tree at about T+1min in the SSW. It was Venus bright but with yellowish light that maybe even flickered. Certainly not reflected light from the Sun. LADEE moved to the east gracefully a good 10 degrees above the distant trees and climbing steadily. It crossed the sky much more slowly than I expected; similar to the space station speed across the sky. Sure wish I brought my binoculars out :cry: It would have been easy to track.

I had NASA-TV on my iphone. Assuming the broadcast was not delayed, it looks like the 3rd stage dimmed dramatically about a minute before NASA said the burn had finished. Not sure why. I lost dim LADEE in the trees and never saw it again after the stage 4 lit up. It was 500+ km up at that time, moving 5km/sec and way out over the Atlantic ocean.

Holy Buck Rogers! I finally saw a rocket ship in flight. :P

BobS
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mrgizmo65
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Re: Take me to the Moon Ladee

Unread post by mrgizmo65 »

Sorry for posting this so late Bob, Blue Max and I were at csp and we did see the launch . Not only see it but we heard it. other than that it was an extremely damp dewy night until 1am and then things cleared up about 4:30 a. a huge orion was displayed to the east to greet the morning
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