Message posted by Peter Merlin on September 14, 2012 at 8:38:15 PST:

Ah, yes. I was there for NROL-41. That was a good one. For a while there, I was worried it would get scrubbed.

I recall that the planned liftoff time was delayed due to a “range clearance issue” when a privately owned vehicle was found parked at SLC-8. The discovery came just moments before the launch sequence was scheduled to emerge from a built-in 10-minute hold that preceded the final four minutes of the countdown. A security sweep was initiated to verify that no unauthorized personnel were present within the restricted buffer zone, and the launch director was forced to extend the hold several times, using up more than half of the available 59-minute launch window. Finally, he received word that all was clear to proceed.

A significantly longer delay would have resulted in postponing the launch until the next evening. For me, going to Vandenberg requires about a five-hour journey each way, so I was glad it didn't get pushed back. For the first attempt at the NROL-36 launch, six weeks ago, I drove to Vandenberg for a midnight liftoff only to find the entire region socked in with zero visibility. I then drove up to the tracking camera station near Santa Ynez Peak. The view was spectacular under a full moon, and all rocket and spacecraft systems were go, but a range equipment malfunction scrubbed the flight.

In Reply to: Re: OT: NRO VAFB posted by wheresjanet on September 14, 2012 at 8:17:09 PST:

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