A little off the norm from what I usually write about but I wanted to share this with people that keep an eye on the blog. I got an invite to watch NASA’S launch of a Minotaur 1 rocket from only 8000 feet away (media credentials baby, got to love them). This is very exciting for me and one of the things on my “list of things to do” among many others. I have been in large tornados, major hurricanes, softball size hail and lightning less then 75 yards away and storm chasing has always been a great high for me and one that I will never stop doing but with a long list of things I have always wanted to do or see would be to see a large rocket take off at a close distance (and other things I will keep under lock and key). This will be the third time the NASA location has attempted a launch of this sort in the last 14 years. In October 1995, the liftoff of a 50-foot-tall Conestoga rocket ignited normally, but the vehicle exploded over the Atlantic just 46-seconds later but in December 2006, a 69-foot-long, 5-foot wide, 35-ton, four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket successfully launched the TacSat-2 satellite, carrying a semisecret payload from the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency. The Minotaur 1 rocket may be visible as far north as southern Maine; as far south as northeastern Florida and as far west as eastern Kentucky which with weather and cloud cover should be well visible to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. A little info on the rocket that will be launched from the Wallops Island site. The Minotaur 1 is a launch vehicle sometimes called “half man and half beast” because it combines features of the Minuteman missiles and Pegasus rockets. It also merges space technologies designed for both military and commercial ventures. Minotaur 1 is a four-stage solid fuel space launch vehicle utilizing Minuteman rocket motors for its first and second stages, reusing motors that have been decommissioned as a result of arms reduction treaties. The Minotaur’s third and fourth stages, structures, and payload fairing are common with our highly reliable Pegasus XL rocket and feature flight proven avionics systems. The ground-launched Minotaur 1 rocket is capable of launching payloads up to 580 kg (1,278 lbs) into low Earth Orbit. I think it’s important for this launch to succeed for future opportunities for the Wallop Island NASA facility.
The launch window of the Minotaur 1 rocket from Wallops Island will take place on Tuesday, May 5, 2009, the launch window will take place between 8:00pm till 11:00pm weather and mechanical permitting. If either of those issues arise the launch will take place the next day at the same times. I will have a number of still cameras and the Sony FX1 high definition video camera set up for this event. Here is the plan for shooting this event. Depending what time the launch happens will make settings of the cameras different. The first camera will be the Nikon D200 with the Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens to capture the whole sky and the trail of the whole launch which should be pretty cool and I might need to stack the images for this camera depending on the time and light that is still effecting the skies. The Nikon D300 will be the tricky one. I will have the Nikon 80-200mm AF-S f 2.8 on the Nikon D300 for the first 10 seconds of the launch to capture the take off and this is where I become a little hazy. The reason it is hazy is because I have never seen a rocket take off so I cannot judge how much light will be coming from the engines of the rocket and how bright it will be. This sort of thing is new to me and with lightning I can judge by one or two bolts and go from their but I do not have the pleasure so I will have to make a guess and go from there. After the 10 seconds have passed I will switch to the Nikon 17-55mm f 2.8 and take another approach to wide angle. All this will happen as I operate the Sony FX1 HD video camera. I will have plenty of time to sort out the details when I am there and will post photos and video of the launch but I do encourage anyone who would like to see this event from the local Hampton Roads area to step outside and take the time to look up and watch this event as I am sure it will be jaw dropping to watch the rocket but might be even better after the event to see the vapor trail being lit up by the sun that has already set.
Take some time and look at some of the videos YouTube has with the launch of this type of rocket and then google the same subject and look at some of the images these guys get with the launch of this rocket…WOW
Wish me luck
no comments