Ladee launch to moon 6 sept 2013
Launch Date: September 6, 2013 Launch Location: Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Virginia Mission Customer: U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC)
The inaugural mission of a Minotaur V rocket is scheduled to occur on September 6, 2013 to launch NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment (LADEE) into a lunar transfer orbit. The LADEE mission will be the 24th overall launch of the Minotaur family of vehicles, the fifth Minotaur launch from Wallops Flight Facility, and LADEE will be the 45th satellite launched by a Minotaur rocket.
The mission also represents a number of firsts, including:
First launch of the Minotaur V configuration First five-stage vehicle flown by Orbital First Peacekeeper-based vehicle launched from Wallops Flight Facility First Lunar mission flown by Orbital First Lunar mission flown from Wallops
Minotaur will boost the LADEE Spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit of 200 km x 278,000 km around the Earth. Over the next 23 days, as LADEE orbits Earth 3.5 times, the Moon's gravitational field will increase the perigee of its orbit. The spacecraft will fire its on-board thrusters to alter its trajectory to allow it to enter orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft is designed to conduct a 100 day mission to measure lunar dust and examine the lunar atmosphere from an orbit of 50 km above the surface of the Moon. The LADEE program is managed by NASA/Ames Research Center.
Orbital conducts Minotaur launches under the U.S. Air Force's Orbital/Suborbital-3 contract, which is managed by the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), located at Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA. The Space Development and Test Wing, based at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM, oversees Minotaur launches for SMC.
http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Miss...st%20Sight.jpg
http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Miss...rV/index.shtml
Anyone that is close and plans on heading to the EASTERNSHORE (WALLOPS ISLAND VA) to watch this?
