L Ron Hubbard has returned to save us from those pesky Mexicans on the Coronado Islands…

L Ron Hubbard has returned to save us from those pesky Mexicans on the Coronado Islands…

It was launched from Vandenberg AFB:

http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123229784

This guy was able to see it in San Diego:
I was able to observe the launch reasonably well from my home in San Diego. After initially focusing on what turned out to be an aircraft that had just turned on its landing lights on approach to Lindbergh field, I finally located the vehicle climbing on its first stage engines at around 2 minutes 30 seconds into its flight (long after solid rocket booster burnout and jettison). I was easily able to fillow the vehicle’s incandescent exhaust as it accelerated, finally climbing into the sun during last 30-45 seconds of the first stage burn. Once it got into the light, the typical bulbous form of the hyperexpanding exhaust was revealed. After first stage burnout, I was unable to track the second stage — which is not terribly surprising since the second stage engine is much smaller.
All in all, this flight resulted in a much better experience than I was expecting.
Russ Schnapp
San Diego, CA

Last January I was driving near Santa Barbara up the mountain that overlooks the ocean and saw a launch early a.m while it was still dark, it was spectacular and I was actually able to see the second stage deploy. Here is the future launch schedule link:http://www.spacearchive.info/vafbsked.htm

It was launched from Vandenberg AFB:

http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123229784

This guy was able to see it in San Diego:
I was able to observe the launch reasonably well from my home in San Diego. After initially focusing on what turned out to be an aircraft that had just turned on its landing lights on approach to Lindbergh field, I finally located the vehicle climbing on its first stage engines at around 2 minutes 30 seconds into its flight (long after solid rocket booster burnout and jettison). I was easily able to fillow the vehicle’s incandescent exhaust as it accelerated, finally climbing into the sun during last 30-45 seconds of the first stage burn. Once it got into the light, the typical bulbous form of the hyperexpanding exhaust was revealed. After first stage burnout, I was unable to track the second stage — which is not terribly surprising since the second stage engine is much smaller.
All in all, this flight resulted in a much better experience than I was expecting.
Russ Schnapp
San Diego, CA

Last January I was driving near Santa Barbara up the mountain that overlooks the ocean and saw a launch early a.m while it was still dark, it was spectacular and I was actually able to see the second stage deploy. Here is the future launch schedule link:http://www.spacearchive.info/vafbsked.htm

It was launched from Vandenberg AFB:

http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123229784

This guy was able to see it in San Diego:
I was able to observe the launch reasonably well from my home in San Diego. After initially focusing on what turned out to be an aircraft that had just turned on its landing lights on approach to Lindbergh field, I finally located the vehicle climbing on its first stage engines at around 2 minutes 30 seconds into its flight (long after solid rocket booster burnout and jettison). I was easily able to fillow the vehicle’s incandescent exhaust as it accelerated, finally climbing into the sun during last 30-45 seconds of the first stage burn. Once it got into the light, the typical bulbous form of the hyperexpanding exhaust was revealed. After first stage burnout, I was unable to track the second stage — which is not terribly surprising since the second stage engine is much smaller.
All in all, this flight resulted in a much better experience than I was expecting.
Russ Schnapp
San Diego, CA

Last January I was driving near Santa Barbara up the mountain that overlooks the ocean and saw a launch early a.m while it was still dark, it was spectacular and I was actually able to see the second stage deploy. Here is the future launch schedule link:http://www.spacearchive.info/vafbsked.htm

It wasn’t the Vandenberg launch, that was Nov. 5. This one was last night (Nov. 8). More info here.

The best case is that this was a Polaris missile test. The worst case is that someone was testing a Club K container missile system.

It wasn’t the Vandenberg launch, that was Nov. 5. This one was last night (Nov. 8). More info here.

The best case is that this was a Polaris missile test. The worst case is that someone was testing a Club K container missile system.