Rockets out of Vandenberg.

[msethhunter]

From down south, we get to see some cool stuff.

Vandenberg is about 120 miles north. Close enough north that I can see many launches, far enough south that I can see the booster come back for the entry burn down in Baja.

 

[budman]

Cool.

 

[CDONA]

I used to live in Vandenburg Village, back in early 60's, with the concept of Duck & Cover under your classroom desk. Step out the door for a godawful roar, a big ball of fire climbs the heavens.
Living in Morro Bay, I could watch birds launch, from my street, local news gave us launch times.
Last pix of the flying condom, I found that happened big time in Az. scared the hell out of me.
Friday nite campfire, hot dogs & mallows, winding down, I turn to stir the fire and see a huge condom heading right for us. No idea what it was.
I did miss the last one a week or so ago. They are way bigger and lower in the sky, in Az.

 

[msethhunter]

I used to live in Vandenburg Village, back in early 60's, with the concept of Duck & Cover under your classroom desk. Step out the door for a godawful roar, a big ball of fire climbs the heavens.
Living in Morro Bay, I could watch birds launch, from my street, local news gave us launch times.
Last pix of the flying condom, I found that happened big time in Az. scared the hell out of me.
Friday nite campfire, hot dogs & mallows, winding down, I turn to stir the fire and see a huge condom heading right for us. No idea what it was.
I did miss the last one a week or so ago. They are way bigger and lower in the sky, in Az.

I grew up in Simi Valley not quite right under Rocketdyne, but pretty damn close. They’d overhaul and test space shuttle engines there, about 2-3 miles away. It would shake the whole valley when they lit those candles. Freaking gnarly.

 

[byke]

Neat! I was coming back from a moonrocks ride with yardsale some years ago and saw something like the last pic on the way home. First time I had seen a launch and it really tripped me out.

 

[ST Guy]

I think there used to be a Rocketdyne test facility in the Santa Cruz mountains. I don’t know if it’s used anymore.

 

[auntiebling]

I think there used to be a Rocketdyne test facility in the Santa Cruz mountains. I don’t know if it’s used anymore.

it was in south san jose/morgan hill almost in the east valley hills and was... not rocketdyne*. I dont' remember the name off hand but i interviewed there 20 something years ago. they machined the solid rocket booster fuel boosters and it was all done remotely when the machines were actually cutting the fuel because i'm sure you're aware that machining generates heat and that's pretty risky when the material you're cutting is flammable/explosive and has no way to extinguish it!

*probably United Technologies

 

[NorCalBusa]

I believe UTC made just the fuel, closed on 2004-ish, but P&W was in them there hills too- Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion Division sprawling campus at 600 Metcalf Road

 

[ST Guy]

Hmmm, I seem to remember some sort of rocket facility at the north end of Empire Grade.

 

[budman]

I believe UTC made just the fuel, closed on 2004-ish, but P&W was in them there hills too- Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion Division sprawling campus at 600 Metcalf Road

Didn't Butch's wife work at UTC?

Why yes she did.

Got a tour from a real rocket scientist 25 years ago. They just built and lit em up. Never launched from there.
It was impressively cool to this tech geek.

Raytheon maybe doing shit their now??

 

[NorCalBusa]

Hmmm, I seem to remember some sort of rocket facility at the north end of Empire Grade.

Yep- veer left (NW) on Empire at the top of Jamison Creek, keep going until you bounce off the gates. Story goes much of the material used there came via a tunnel under Santa Cruz Mtn - other end near Saratoga. No idea if that's true, but its a good story.

 

[ST Guy]

So I was correct.

As for tunnels, there is a tunnel, or what remains of it, running between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. The entrances were dynamited back in the late 40’s as I recall. And in one of the tales, a train, including a locomotive, is still in the tunnel somewhere.

Oh, and apparently there is more than one way into the tunnel. Something like ventilation shafts, usually located on someone’s private property, with the entrances over grown and hidden.

There could be others.

 

[ST Guy]

Here’s a good piece on the tunnel and railroad.

The Ghost Train and Hidden Tunnels in the Santa Cruz Mountains - San Lorenzo Valley Post

The story of the South Pacific Railroad is a tale of a colossal feat doomed to fail. The portion of the short-lived narrow-gauge railroad that connected Los Gatos to Felton had its share of disasters, from earthquakes to epic storms to fatal accidents. But in the end, not any specific one of...

slvpost.com

 

[littlebeast]

have mentioned before that the first half of my career was in missile defense. went to VAFB (still can’t call it space force lol) for a few launches. not like watching a shuttle launch - those missiles shot out of the ground like bottle rockets. also went to a few at white sands. those were cool - that particular program they would launch and then fire interceptors at them.

on another note - friend of a friend worked at one of the solid fuel places in the south bay (don’t recall which one). he used to smuggle that shit out and build homemade rockets with it. brought one to the beach when we were partying one night. we all stood wayyyy back while he lit it off. damn thing fell over, ignited and went flying horizontal about 3 feet off the ground straight at us. we all hit the deck. talk about pissed. dudes lucky he didn’t get the shit beat out of him. the fact that we all had a face full of sand probably saved his life.

 

[Butch]

Sally worked at United Technologies Chemical Systems Division starting in 1983. It later became Pratt & Whitney Space Propellsions Operations and now Ratheon. The 5000 acre facility off Metcalf rd is in various stages of public ownership.
The front piece https://www.openspaceauthority.org/preserves/coyoteridge.html is open to the public.

This is a cool history thing; no idea if linky worky

(PDF) Pioneers in Propulsion—A History of Pratt & Whitney’s ... Documents/SRTC Awards... · Pratt & Whitney’s Solid Rocket Company by ... (with its own smaller pyrogen igniter) was - PDFSLIDE.NET

Pioneers in Propulsion—A History of CSD, Pratt & Whitney’s Solid Rocket Company by Charles A. Chase (1) Abstract A small group of scientists and engineers, with the…

pdfslide.net

 

[NorCalBusa]

A friend and her husband live in the foothills east of downtown Santa Maria, 15 miles from the launch pads. Perfect view, pool, comfy chairs, cocktails at the ready, neighbors come over- they can't get enough of it.

 

[CDONA]

The Navy had a launch site too, one we could see above ground and steaming.
Sitting at the dinner table, looking out the window, with his scoped hunting rifle, bolt removed.
My dad was a PT&T guy, he quit to work @ Vandenburg, installing comm lines for Titan 2 silos.
When the Cuban Missile crisis finally faded, and the silos were built out, He was hired back to PT&T in Fairfield.
One thing I got from this, I started algebra in the fourth grade, under SMSG, Student Mathematics Study Group
A pilot program to see if we could learn it, at a younger age.

 

[bcj]

Morton / Thiokol is another brand of rapidly expansive kibble.
We used to go down to the chandlers' shop to buy an expensive tub of Thiokol after beating oakum between the planks of our leaky old boats.
Around that time water proofing pitch was harder to source. It had gone out of fashion.

Much later surprised me when they lit off a rocket test while I was going past in Utah.
Dayum! I put that goop in my dory?