WALLOPS ISLAND, VA – An unprecedented spectacle is set to light up the skies this Friday night, Sept. 6, courtesy of NASA when America returns to the Moon with the history making nighttime launch of the LADEE lunar orbiter atop a retired and specially converted intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from NASA’s Wallops Island facility on the Virginia shoreline.
Blastoff of NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Observatory atop the maiden flight of the powerful new Minotaur V rocket is slated for
11:27 p.m. EDT Sept. 6 from Launch Pad 0B along the Eastern Shore of Virginia at NASA Wallops.
Because it’s at night and lifting off from the most densely populated region of the United States, the flames spewing from the tail of Minotaur could be visible to tens of millions of distant spectators – weather permitting – who have never before witnessed such a rocket launch.
So you don’t have to be watching locally to join in the fun and excitement. And you can always watch the NASA TV webcast online on a smartphone or laptop.
The LADEE (pronounced ‘laddie’ not ‘lady’) launch is historic in many ways.
No space satellite has ever been launched to beyond Earth orbit from NASA’s Wallops’s launch base in Virginia, it’s the first flight to the Moon from Wallops, the first Minotaur V rocket launch based on the Peacekeeper missile, and it’s the first flight of the revolutionary new modular spacecraft design aimed at significantly cutting the cost of exploring space.
So although the very best views are available from local areas in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware just tens of miles away from the Wallops Island launch pad, magnificent viewing opportunities are available from a broad region up and down the East Coast and into the interior.
Read more:
http://www.universetoday.com/104515/how-to-see-the-historic-ladee-nightime-moon-shot-on-sept-6/#ixzz2e8Pa2PO7The 3 images below show:
1. The trajectory you might see if you were on the Empire State Building Observation Deck looking south
2. The trajectory you might see if you were at Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan looking south
3. How high above the horizon (in degrees) the rocket will be visible. We appear to be in the 10-15 degree range (closer to 10).
The weather should be good, but in Hackensack, I think you'd need to be somewhere high enough that you can see the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building.
If you see the trajectory, it probably won't be one solid line because you should be able to see different stages igniting as well.
