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The San Diego Thread

Night Hunter

By Night Hunter
in West and Southwest

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted (edited)
We should do an event cache to watch one of those puppies takeoff sometime!

B)

I'm game!!!!!

:cry:

It is an interesting idea. It will cost a trip to Florida though. Also, consider that there is always a good chance of the weather violating the launch criteria, in addition to all of the other things that can delay a launch. Like the time that there was a fishing tournament out of Cape Canaveral. It turns out that the hottest fishing was off the coast in the "impact zone" and range safety would not allow us to push the button with all those boats out there. The military flew over them with helicopters warning of an impending launch, but several of them would not leave. Our launch window slipped away while waiting for them to depart and the result was scrubbed launch (at a cost of over $100K I might add). RM

They don't launch from Vandenberg any more?

 

Edit: Found this fishing quote. It seemed apropos:

"Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day." - Dave Barry

Edited by TrailGators
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RocketMan

+RocketMan

Posted
Posted
We should do an event cache to watch one of those puppies takeoff sometime!

B)

I'm game!!!!!

:cry:

It is an interesting idea. It will cost a trip to Florida though. Also, consider that there is always a good chance of the weather violating the launch criteria, in addition to all of the other things that can delay a launch. Like the time that there was a fishing tournament out of Cape Canaveral. It turns out that the hottest fishing was off the coast in the "impact zone" and range safety would not allow us to push the button with all those boats out there. The military flew over them with helicopters warning of an impending launch, but several of them would not leave. Our launch window slipped away while waiting for them to depart and the result was scrubbed launch (at a cost of over $100K I might add). RM

They don't launch from Vandenberg any more?

 

Edit: Found this fishing quote. It seemed apropos:

"Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day." - Dave Barry

You would ask about VAFB. Yes there are launches there. Here is the launch schedule. These are mostly Boeing Delta launches with the exception of the Titan IV launch in June that is ours. We will be launching an Atlas V there in the future, but we are just in the process of constructing a new launch facility for Atlas V. RM

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted (edited)
You would ask about VAFB.  Yes there are launches there.  Here is the launch schedule.  These are mostly Boeing Delta launches with the exception of the Titan IV launch in June that is ours.  We will be launching an Atlas V there in the future, but we are just in the process of constructing a new launch facility for Atlas V.  RM

I've never seen a launch. VAFB is well within reach. I would be totally game for an Event cache up there! B)

Edited by TrailGators
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FlagMan

+FlagMan

Posted
Posted (edited)

On letterboxing, the Yrium Celebratiion Letterbox Cache is a letterbox hybrid. I had a stamp made from one of the gazillion on-line companies that does this sort of thing. I simply made an ink tracing of Yrium's trademark "Hat-On-A-Stick" logo and either sent it to the stamp company or scanned it and sent them the image file. It came out absolutely awesome. The stamp has been left in the cache....

Edited by FlagMan
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RocketMan

+RocketMan

Posted
Posted
You would ask about VAFB.  Yes there are launches there.  Here is the launch schedule.  These are mostly Boeing Delta launches with the exception of the Titan IV launch in June that is ours.  We will be launching an Atlas V there in the future, but we are just in the process of constructing a new launch facility for Atlas V.  RM

I've never seen a launch. VAFB is well within reach. I would be totally game for an Event cache up there! B)

There are a few caches to be had in the area:

 

fcab0664-efdd-4b69-8b28-8601c290341c.jpg

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PC Painter

+PC Painter

Posted
Posted
On letterboxing, the Yrium Celebratiion Letterbox Cache is a letterbox hybrid. I had a stamp made from one of the gazillion on-line companies that does this sort of thing. I simply made an ink tracing of Yrium's trademark "Hat-On-A-Stick" logo and either sent it to the stamp company or scanned it and sent them the image file. It came out absolutely awesome. The stamp has been left in the cache....

Thanks, FlagMan....I'll go try out some other custom stamp services!

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RocketMan

+RocketMan

Posted
Posted
There are a few caches to be had in the area

A rocket launch and tons of caches, now we just need to check the calendar!

Remember that the calendar is dictated by the Launch folks. I am not connected with the Delta Launch operations although I know some folks at Boeing. And, I am sure the Titan launch window will be classified, so that one may be tough to nail down. It may not be impossible, just tough. Getting on base is the way to go, but I don't know about getting a whole group there. I have watched an Atlas IIAS launch at VAFB and a couple of launches at the Cape. This is one of my favorite photos of an IIAS coming through the clouds at VAFB:

 

2003184-AtlasCentaur20010908.jpg

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted
On letterboxing, the Yrium Celebratiion Letterbox Cache is a letterbox hybrid.  I had a stamp made from one of the gazillion on-line companies that does this sort of thing.  I simply made an ink tracing of Yrium's trademark "Hat-On-A-Stick" logo and either sent it to the stamp company or scanned it and sent them the image file.  It came out absolutely awesome.  The stamp has been left in the cache....

Hey Tom, do you think they could make this without the unnecessary text on the bottom? RM found this website the other day. Pretty cool, huh! B)

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted (edited)
Remember that the calendar is dictated by the Launch folks.  I am not connected with the Delta Launch operations although I know some folks at Boeing.  And, I am sure the Titan launch window will be classified, so that one may be tough to nail down.  It may not be impossible, just tough.  Getting on base is the way to go, but I don't know about getting a whole group there.  I have watched an Atlas IIAS launch at VAFB and a couple of launches at the Cape.  This is one of my favorite photos of an IIAS coming through the clouds at VAFB

How would it be from a high point near the base?

 

Edit: That photo makes want to leave now!

Edited by TrailGators
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RocketMan

+RocketMan

Posted
Posted
Remember that the calendar is dictated by the Launch folks.  I am not connected with the Delta Launch operations although I know some folks at Boeing.  And, I am sure the Titan launch window will be classified, so that one may be tough to nail down.  It may not be impossible, just tough.  Getting on base is the way to go, but I don't know about getting a whole group there.  I have watched an Atlas IIAS launch at VAFB and a couple of launches at the Cape.  This is one of my favorite photos of an IIAS coming through the clouds at VAFB

How would it be from a high point near the base?

 

Edit: That photo makes want to leave now!

It might be ok, but hearing the launch commands is a must! That way you know when there are delays and you can hear that all important countdown.

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PC Painter

+PC Painter

Posted
Posted
On letterboxing, the Yrium Celebratiion Letterbox Cache is a letterbox hybrid.  I had a stamp made from one of the gazillion on-line companies that does this sort of thing.  I simply made an ink tracing of Yrium's trademark "Hat-On-A-Stick" logo and either sent it to the stamp company or scanned it and sent them the image file.  It came out absolutely awesome.  The stamp has been left in the cache....

Hey Tom, do you think they could make this without the unnecessary text on the bottom? RM found this website the other day. Pretty cool, huh! B)

They can, if you make it look like this...

 

http://www.christopherpayne.com/geocaching/trail3.bmp

 

I went in and enlarged it, painted the dark colors black, the light colors white, and then converted it to a black and white file. Oh...and removed that pesky text....heh. Just hope that they don't refuse it over it being a copyrighted image.

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TucsonThompsen

+TucsonThompsen

Posted
Posted
This is one of my favorite photos of an IIAS coming through the clouds at VAFB:

RocketMan,

 

You're proabably the guy to ask here about this, but what ever happened with the pad and the facilities at VAFB that were going to be used to launch those DoD shuttle missions post-Challenger? Was this program scrapped entirely for safety? For budgetary reasons? My understanding is that VAFB is ideal for polar insertion launches as opposed to the Cape, where the maximum launch inclination is something like 52°. So why the shuttles were not used to launch from there for military sats, I don't know. Any mementos left of that bygone/ never was era out there in Lompoc to see?

 

--TT--

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FlagMan

+FlagMan

Posted
Posted (edited)
Hey Tom, do you think they could make this without the unnecessary text on the bottom? RM found this website the other day. Pretty cool, huh! :(

I am no expert, but the issue they initally had with the Yrium stamp was that the grey-scale would not work at all. It had to be a line drawing. So if you took that image and traced it with a pen, they could do it no problem. But just sending the image, itself, probably would not work. The colors that can be seen with the image would all blur into blobs of black ink on a stamp.

 

Ooops, I see PC Painter has done all this for you already! His image would make a perfect stamp!

Edited by FlagMan
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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted (edited)
On letterboxing, the Yrium Celebratiion Letterbox Cache is a letterbox hybrid.  I had a stamp made from one of the gazillion on-line companies that does this sort of thing.  I simply made an ink tracing of Yrium's trademark "Hat-On-A-Stick" logo and either sent it to the stamp company or scanned it and sent them the image file.  It came out absolutely awesome.  The stamp has been left in the cache....

Hey Tom, do you think they could make this without the unnecessary text on the bottom? RM found this website the other day. Pretty cool, huh! :D

They can, if you make it look like this...

 

http://www.christopherpayne.com/geocaching/trail3.bmp

 

I went in and enlarged it, painted the dark colors black, the light colors white, and then converted it to a black and white file. Oh...and removed that pesky text....heh. Just hope that they don't refuse it over it being a copyrighted image.

Wow! Thanks Chris! That's awesome! It would have taken me forever to do that with Paint Shop Pro. :(

 

As far as the copyright thing, I'm not sure who came first with the name but I'm not a lawyer but their website looks very new and I 've had the name for 2 years so I'm guessing that I might be OK. As far as the image, I'm not profiting from it, so again I think I'm OK. :D

 

Thanks for your suggestions also, Tom!

Edited by TrailGators
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RocketMan

+RocketMan

Posted
Posted (edited)
This is one of my favorite photos of an IIAS coming through the clouds at VAFB:

RocketMan,

 

You're proabably the guy to ask here about this, but what ever happened with the pad and the facilities at VAFB that were going to be used to launch those DoD shuttle missions post-Challenger? Was this program scrapped entirely for safety? For budgetary reasons? My understanding is that VAFB is ideal for polar insertion launches as opposed to the Cape, where the maximum launch inclination is something like 52°. So why the shuttles were not used to launch from there for military sats, I don't know. Any mementos left of that bygone/ never was era out there in Lompoc to see?

 

--TT--

They were pretty much ready to launch the Shuttle out of there with all of the launch facilities essentially ready to go. It would have been very cool to watch, but after the Challenger accident, NASA decided to scrap the West Coast Launch of the Shuttle. They also scrapped the Shuttle Centaur program which involved our upper stage placed inside the payload of the Space Shuttle main cargo bay. We had developed this special version of our upper stage and had built the first couple of flight articles, so it was a shame to never fly them. Our upper stage uses liquid hydrogen combined with liquid oxygen for propulsion, and after Challenger, NASA was very worried about having a potential "bomb" inside the Shuttle bay. Here is a picture of the Shuttle Centaur qualification article going into the test tower at the Sycamore Test Facility just outside of Poway:

 

0646dc0d-1505-41ed-8f17-b7a09da71274.jpg

 

As far as what happened to the Shuttle Pad at VAFB, I visited there a few years back and it was all dilapidated and run down after sitting there unmaintained for so many years. At the time I was there, Boeing was just getting ready to refurbish the pad to use it for their new Delta IV vehicle. The west coast Delta IV launches that were on the VAFB schedule that I linked to in my earlier post will be flown out of that launch pad. Of course, it was completely refurbished and modified to support the Delta IV. Here is a good aerial view of the VAFB Space Shuttle pad in all its glory:

 

8c53282d-2e83-4ef8-a36a-92d906124700.jpg

 

There are some good photos of the evolution of the pad here, including pictures of a Space Shuttle being loaded (sorry for the pop-ups on the site).

 

RM

 

edit: I guess I did not completely answer you initial question about why they never launched the Shuttle out of there. It is an ideal location for polar orbits. I think that it had to do with a complete change in philosophy within NASA and the launch community after the Challenger accident. Before Challenger, the Shuttle was going to be the primary US launcher of most orbital payloads. Our Shuttle Centaur would have been able to take relative large payloads into geosync orbit. After the Challenger accident, the philosophy changed to using more of the expendable launch vehicles like ours for putting payloads into orbit.

Edited by Rocket Man
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RocketMan

+RocketMan

Posted
Posted (edited)

I am not sure how you guys are looking for your images, but a good way to do it is to go to Google, click where it says "Images" above the search box and then type in your search text. For Night Hunter, there are a bunch of good ones that come up. Here is one of the funny ones that comes up when I type Rocket Man:

 

rocketman.jpg

 

edit: I thought it was a baboon also.

Edited by Rocket Man
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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted (edited)
I am not sure how you guys are looking for your images, but a good way to do it is to go to Google, click where it says "Images" above the search box and then type in your search text.  For Night Hunter, there are a bunch of good ones that come up.  Here is one of the funny ones that comes up when I type Rocket Man:

That is exactly how I was doing it! RM, you should use that as your avatar! :(

Edited by TrailGators
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PC Painter

+PC Painter

Posted
Posted
On letterboxing, the Yrium Celebratiion Letterbox Cache is a letterbox hybrid.  I had a stamp made from one of the gazillion on-line companies that does this sort of thing.  I simply made an ink tracing of Yrium's trademark "Hat-On-A-Stick" logo and either sent it to the stamp company or scanned it and sent them the image file.  It came out absolutely awesome.  The stamp has been left in the cache....

Hey Tom, do you think they could make this without the unnecessary text on the bottom? RM found this website the other day. Pretty cool, huh! :D

They can, if you make it look like this...

 

http://www.christopherpayne.com/geocaching/trail3.bmp

 

I went in and enlarged it, painted the dark colors black, the light colors white, and then converted it to a black and white file. Oh...and removed that pesky text....heh. Just hope that they don't refuse it over it being a copyrighted image.

Wow! Thanks Chris! That's awesome! It would have taken me forever to do that with Paint Shop Pro. :(

 

As far as the copyright thing, I'm not sure who came first with the name but I'm not a lawyer but their website looks very new and I 've had the name for 2 years so I'm guessing that I might be OK. As far as the image, I'm not profiting from it, so again I think I'm OK. :D

 

Thanks for your suggestions also, Tom!

My pleasure! Hey...check out this avatar sized version. I think it shows enough detail to look nice. Feel free to grab it off my website, and use it...

 

trailav.jpg

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Parsa

Parsa

Posted
Posted

Yeah, that's what we need... a bunch of guys running around outside a missile test site with GPS receivers in hand. ;)

 

My father worked for just about every space contractor as an engineer. We lived near VAFB, Sunnyvale and Mountain View, and several times near Kennedy in Florida. I got to see launches of many of the major rockets during the 60s and 70s including Apollo shots (11-13) and Skylab launches.

 

My father worked on the launch vehicles such as the Titan series. One of the coolest things he told me about was the X-20 Dyna Soar project. It was an Air Force prototype space shuttle in the early 60s! The lifting body X-planes are my favorites, including the Boeing X-20, Martin Marietta X-23A, Martin Marietta X-24A, Martin Marietta X-24B, the HL-10, and the M2-F1 through M2-F3.

 

ECN-2359.jpgEC69-2358.jpgECN-1107.jpg

 

The X-20 Dyna Soar was a great idea, but it never came to be anything beyond the prototype.

 

Here are some photos:

 

oct_i_history3.jpg

Dyna-Soar.jpg

books_dynasoar03.jpg

x20xmew.jpg

dyrentr.jpg

books_dynasoar01.jpg

 

Parsa

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drew5.10

+drew5.10

Posted
Posted

Very Cool pics! I used to live in Ft. Lauderdale and I remeber standing on the roof of my parents house and watching the space shuttle take off from Titusville. That is about some 150 + miles away but we were able to make out the glow of the booster rockets and could clearly see the contrails. The best part is when it did it's "roll" and it seemed to fly parallel to the earths surface as it broke into the upper atmosphere.....

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FlagMan

+FlagMan

Posted
Posted
I'm off home to the UK tomorrow, but if anyone owns/knows of a TB which needs to cross the pond, drop me a line or reply here with the cache it's in! I've left this a bit late, I know....

Wow! If you could find any of the Flag Family TB's, that is their specific goal. But I think they are all out of town.

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Tycho52

+Tycho52

Posted
Posted

Just goofing around at the office (I know, I'm supposed to be working ) waiting to go to a Holiday party and I ran across a reference to Keyhole. I signed up for the free trial. It's pretty fun to play around with, though it seems the visuals are slightly off on the coordinates that I put in (my address, a couple of caches of which I'm familiar with the terrain). The fly-bys are fun, as is the 3-d effect.

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TrailGators

+TrailGators

Posted
Posted

Did that picture show up for anybody else?  You may need to try that again lecomple.

Prolly just a case of Ofoto not allowing remote image links. You CAN view the photo at http://images.ofoto.com/photos937/1/55/95/...55107_0_ALB.jpg. To insert the image into the post you'll have to upload it again with someone else.

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /photos937/1/55/95/93/65/0/65939555107_0_ALB.jpg on this server.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Apache Server at im64.ofoto.com Port 80

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