Cool videos of TacSat3 launch from Wallops Launch Site

Here is a followup and cool video of the TacSat3 satellite launch from Wallops Island in Virginia at the tip of the Delmarva peninsula that occurred on Tuesday night. I did not see anything from Delaware, but people in Rockville, Md, Charlottesville, Va, and Wilmington, De claim to have seen the rocket trail. Also, Leesburg, VA, Eldersburg outside of Baltimore, DC, Severn, MD, and even Philadelphia claim sightings. Here is a picture of a rocket trail from Arlington, VA. Picture of a rocket trail from Lusby, MD. Pictures from western shore of Chesapeake bay.

Professional video below from close to Wallops launch site.



If you watch the video closely, and especially in HD (click on the video to got to YouTube), I think you can see the first stage separation and second stage ignition, and then later possibly the second stage separation and third stage ignition. I need to go see one of these in person, since it is so close.

Amateur video below from Rockville, MD. Impressive as this is 120 miles (as the crow flies) northeast of Wallops Island.



(video one via ShoreFireProductions, video two via Jared's Global Microbrand)

Satellite Launch from Wallops tonight at 7:35pm

Here we go again with the launch of a TacSat satellite from the Wallops NASA launch site at the tip of the Delmarva peninsula. The launch is tonight at 7:35pm, though the launch window extends to 11pm. Clear skies mean the weather is probably not a factor, but that isn't what stopped it last time. I will try to glance south at the appropriate time, but tonight I may miss it.

The last time was a bust.

NASA Rocket launch center practically in my backyard

I did not know that there is a NASA rocket launch center on Wallops Island in Virginia towards the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula. Compared with Cape Canaveral that is practically in my backyard. How did I not know about it and not visit it on the way to all those trips to the Outer Banks of North Carolina?

Nevertheless the rocket launch of an Air Force satellite scheduled for last night was postponed until tonight. You can follow the status here, and watch video and webcast here and twitter feed here. I am going to keep updated and sometime between 8pm and 11pm tonight I will go out and look south to see if I can see the rocket achieve orbit. I doubt I will see anything since it is about 160 miles due south of me. I also expect the rocket to take off towards the east to get the benefit of the Earth's rotation.

I must visit during a launch someday. I saw the Shuttle takeoff in February and see the next one getting ready, but that was a lucky happenstance - the last launch was delayed to the date of my trip, which would have been too early for the next launch. This one would be easier to get to.

Can you imagine an alternate reality where this launch facility was the one where they decided to do manned flight from instead of Kennedy Space Center. How cool would it be to have the Shuttle launch from Virginia. Apparently this site has the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport or MARS, and its first commercial launch was in 2006 (Spaceport website), which might explain why I hadn't heard of it, though it has been around doing rocket testing since the 40's.