Six solid fuel boosters ignite and the Delta-II
Rocket rises from the pad at 23 seconds after 9:57 A.M.
Delta-II/Gravity-B probe launch from Vandenberg AFB, April 20, 2004 |
(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any picture below.)
The Gravity-B probe was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on April 20, 2004. It will verify whether the magnitude of warping of the space-time continuum caused by the rotation of the Earth is properly predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
Six solid fuel boosters ignite and the Delta-II
Rocket rises from the pad at 23 seconds after 9:57 A.M.
Three solid fuel boosters ignite one minute
and ten seconds after launch as the Delta-II arcs over toward the south.
Two frame composite, wide-angle view of the departing rocket.
Three frame composite, wide-angle view of the departing rocket.
Eighty- two minutes after launch the Gravity-B probe was placed into the proper orbit.
More Vandenberg AFB
launch photography.
Link to Stanford's Gravity-B Probe web site.
Link to Boeing's Delta-II page.
Link to the Air Force Fact Sheet about the Delta-II.
The home page of the 
30th Space
Wing
Brian Webb's Space Archive Page provides launch schedule and ham radio information.
You can buy a 2011 calendar featuring my photographs of rocket launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Photos of thirteen rocket launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base:
Pegasus-XL/Wide-Field Infra-red Explorer (WIRE) March 4, 1999
Atlas-IIAS/Terra December 18, 1999
Delta II/Gravity Probe B, April 20, 2004
Minotaur/Streak September 22, 2005
Titan IV/National Reconnaissance Office satellite, October 19, 2005
Minuteman III, February 16, 2006
Minuteman III, April 2, 2008
Target Launch Vehicle, September 24, 2008
Delta-II/GeoEye 1, September 6, 2008
Delta II/Jason 2, June 20, 2008
Delta II/COSMO-Skymed, October 24, 2008
Taurus/Orbiting Carbon Observatory, February 24, 2009
Delta-II/Worldview 2, October 28, 2009
Put a copy of the Rocket Launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base: 2011 Calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $16.95.
Send a message to Brian .