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Author
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Topic: Red Tigris II launch pad at cape?
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Canaveral
Member Posts: 29
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2005
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posted 03-06-2006 07:28 PM
   
As a young teenager back in '90 (I believe this was the year), I saw my first launch of an unmanned rocket from Cocoa Beach called Red Tigris II. I have been trying to figure out which launch pad this took place from at the cape. Can somebody on the board please answer this question for me or other mission details?Dave |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 03-06-2006 07:37 PM
I cannot find record of any launch with a payload by that name. Are you sure about it? By 1990, it would have to be a Shuttle, Delta, Atlas or Titan only.Can you provide more info, perhaps a date, or whether it was day or night? |
Canaveral
Member Posts: 29
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2005
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posted 03-06-2006 07:52 PM
I don't believe the launch was associated with Atlas or Delta. I believe from memory it was an experimental weather satellite payload. I also remember it was an early morning launch (1-3AM). |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 03-06-2006 10:26 PM
Well, satellites are launched by rockets of the name Delta, Atlas or Titan. The satellites have their own names.There is one launch that could vaguely fit... a Delta 2 launched the INSAT weather satellite for India at 12:52am ET on June 12, 1990 from the Cape. Two other early morning Deltas that year were GPS satellites. There was also an early morning Shuttle launch that year which was a classified DoD launch. |
spaceuk
Member Posts: 2113
From: Staffs, UK
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 03-07-2006 09:36 AM
Can you describe what you actually saw - as that may help us help you?Was the rocket 'long' pencil shaped? Was it perhaps more squat? Did it have solid boosters attached? Any colours of rocket? Was it definitely a launch from the KSC/CCAS area? Wasn't out at sea was it? As there have been nuclear sub launches of missile tests off the coast at KSC. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 03-07-2006 01:50 PM
You likely would not know if a Trident launch had taken place.In reference to the solids, what you could tell is (if you remember) is if the rocket trailed thick smoke or just a flame with no smoke. |
Canaveral
Member Posts: 29
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2005
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posted 03-07-2006 06:45 PM
I sure do appreciate your assistance guys, and sorry for my foggy memory details!Recollecting my dates better tonight, I believe this launch was in the summer of '93, it was an early AM launch, I do remember seeing an exhaust trail from the booster in the dark sky. This launch definitely took place at the CCAFS as I was on Cocoa Beach viewing the launch and could see the launch clearly. I am confident this was not an Atlas or delta launch, and believe it was a lower-end booster which carried the weather payload. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 03-07-2006 08:12 PM
And I am telling you there are no lower end boosters.  Delta is the smallest booster (which doesn't say much at thirteen stories high), and there haven't been anything but the Delta-Atlas-Titan set since the early or mid 1970s. However, I can't find any early morning launches from summer 1993 at all from the Cape. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 03-07-2006 08:54 PM
No, actually, there are several "lower-end" boosters that were used at the Cape from the 1980/90s. There was an Air Force research rocket, named Starbird, that flew three times from Dec. 1990 until May 1993 from old modified Titan Launch Complex 20. Another research rocket was NASA's Prospector, with only one firing, in 1991 from the same pad and Aries 1, another Air Force research rocket, that flew twice in 1991. There were two Athena launch vehicles, one commercial and NASA, that were launched from northern pad 46 in 1998-99. It was NASA's Athena II, built by Lockheed Martin, that launched the small Lunar Prospector probe to the moon in Jan. 1998. All the Cape's smaller sounding and weather rockets were/are fired from two launch complexes; 43 and 47. Perhaps it was one of these rockets, however, "Red Tigris II" doesn't at all ring any bells for me. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 03-07-2006 09:07 PM
Yes, there were two Athenas in the late 1990s, which I forgot about.The others are sounding rockets (which I know all about), but left out because they do not orbit satellites and don't tend to be the type people go out for. In fact, most are launched in the daytime unless they involve experiments such as atmospheric chemical reactions that need darkness. In any case, I tried searching for Red Tigris, even with different spellings, and could not find any mention of it on any site. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 03-07-2006 10:17 PM
Just found out -- there was a classified military payload for the SDIO "Red Tigress" research program launched atop an Aries rocket from Complex 20 on Oct. 14, 1991. It was a 6:17 am liftoff from the Cape. The Aries, Starbird, and Prospector were/are indeed suborbital carriers. For instance, the 50-foot long Prospector launch vehicle was used for the JOUST recoverable payload that contained materials development in space and biotechnology experiments. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 03-07-2006 10:22 PM
Well, I retract my remarks then.  Just figured he didn't see a suborbital experiment launch. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 03-07-2006 10:46 PM
No need for a retraction, Ben. I recall covering the Athena II maiden launch here along with Prospector, but I am not sure about Starbird and Aries as I'll have to check my records on those. Athena II with the Lunar Prospector probe was a big launch event for the media and public. There was even a special pictorial postmark available from Cape Canaveral post office for the "returning to the moon" mission that I was much involved with. It was a fun and exciting mission as America was going back to exploring the moon nearly 25 years later! |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted 03-07-2006 10:51 PM
Clementine was launched in 1994, which was the first lunar mission since Apollo. I assume you mean for science? |
Canaveral
Member Posts: 29
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2005
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posted 03-08-2006 10:16 AM
Ken and all, I thank you so much for your assistance, well done! Again, sorry for my foggy details..Dave
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 03-08-2006 10:31 AM
Dave -- No problem, just glad to help out. For Ben, yes, Clementine was a lunar and asteroid mission in an U.S. effort to develop ballistic missile defenses that was launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Titan IIG booster in 1994. As you pointed out, it wasn't a science probe, but rather a military experiment in testing sensor and thruster technologies for missile interceptors. |
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