[IRCA] Off Topic - Rocket Launch 7:30pm EDT

[amdxer@xxxxxxxx]

The Air Force is scheduled to launch a rocket carrying 29

satalites around 7:30PM EST from Virginia.

Will be visible from Flordia to Canada and as far west
at Indiana.
Hope you have clear skies!

Tom
Jsinski


(CNN) --
Look to the heavens along the East Coast on Tuesday night,
and you might be able to see the Air Force blast 29
satellites into orbit at once.
The 29 satellites, the most ever
launched at one time, will be aboard a single Minotaur I
rocket scheduled to lift off from NASA's Wallops Flight
Facility in Virginia at 7:30 p.m. They include the main
payload, the Air Force's Space Test Program Satellite-3,
and 28 tiny satellites called CubeSats.
The CubeSats are aptly named.
Also called nanosatellites, they are small cubes, about 4
inches on each side, weighing about 3 pounds and with a
volume of about a quart.
Among the CubeSats is the
TJ3Sat, built by the students of Thomas
Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in
Alexandria, Virginia. It will be the first satellite made
by high-schoolers to go into space.
Once in orbit, the
"TJ3Sat will allow students and amateur
radio users the opportunity to send and receive data from
the satellite. Students and other users from around the
world will be able to submit text strings to be uploaded
to the TJ3Sat website," according to
Orbital Sciences Corp, the developer and manufacturer of
the Minotaur rocket.
The students have been working on
the TJ3Sat for seven years, according to
Orbital.
Lost world -- what
happened to Mars?
The Air Force satellite that is
the main payload will conduct a variety of experiments
during its expected 13-month mission.
The launch will also be evaluated
as part of a certification process of the Minotaur rocket
for commercial use. That process is being conducted by the
Federal Aviation Administration, NASA
says.
Orbital says the 29 satellites
should achieve orbit in a little less than 12½
minutes after the rocket ignites.
NASA says the launch may be
visible from northern Florida to southern Canada and as
far west as Indiana.
If you can't see the launch from
where you are, it will be streamed by NASA
live.
 



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