* Astronomy

Vandenberg rehearses first Delta 4 rocket launch

Boeing's Delta 4 rocket launch team at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base today practiced countdown procedures during a real-life rehearsal in preparation for the next-generation booster's maiden West Coast lift-off in August.
Standing at the Space Launch Complex-6 pad, the mothballed site originally constructed in the 1960s for an Air Force space laboratory and rebuilt in the 1980s for the space shuttle, the two-stage Delta 4 rocket underwent the day-long test that exercised scripts for loading super-cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants, engine steering checks and Range Safety activities, officials said.
Countdown clocks reached a simulated lift-off time around 2250 GMT (3:50 p.m. local time), according to team members.


space Launch Complex 6 overlooks the Pacific Ocean. Credit: Boeing


The rocket has experienced an extended stay on the pad awaiting its classified spacecraft payload. The launch will deliver the hush-hush cargo into orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, which is the government agency that flies the country's fleet of spy satellites.
Wednesday's rehearsal was the latest in a series of fuelling and countdown simulation tests conducted in preparation for the first West Coast Delta 4 launch.
Boeing overhauled the 132-acre SLC-6 site since leasing the pad in 2000 for the Delta 4 program, enabling the new rocket family to place satellites into polar orbits. All four Delta 4 missions launched to date have occurred from Florida's Cape Canaveral to reach equatorial orbits.
Company officials held a formal pad dedication ceremony last month to celebrate the SLC-6 site's readiness.


The Vandenberg home of Delta 4 -- the massive Space Launch Complex 6 pad and (behind) the Horizontal Integration Facility. Credit: Boeing


"It's because of the hard work, dedication and perseverance of the Delta team that I'm able to stand here today and say to you: Men and women of the U.S. Air Force and the people of America, on behalf of the Boeing Delta team, we proudly present our completed Delta 4 launch infrastructure, meeting all the ... requirements for assured access to space of your satellite payloads," - Dan Collins, Boeing's vice president of expendable launch systems, said during the event.

The inaugural Vandenberg lift-off is anticipated around August 30. If all goes well, that will be followed with a November launch carrying the next DMSP military weather satellite for the Air Force and another NRO mission next year.
But next up on the Delta 4 manifest is launch of the GOES-N civilian weather satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Lift-off is currently slated for June 23. The Cape will also host the second Delta 4-Heavy rocket flight in late October when an Air Force missile-warning spacecraft is sent aloft.




-- Edited by Blobrana at 22:16, 2005-05-26