Question for the group

[chefmike]

So if your destroyer is following the carrier during flight ops, it is called standing plane guard...

Then what is it called when your destroyer is sitting of cape canaveral during a shuttle launch?

Is there a standard amount/configuration of ships involved each time the shuttle launches?

I ask this as my Son who is a Midshipman is on his 3/c cruise on the USS Carney. They got underway Mon morning and the shuttle launched Mon at 14:30ish. Carney is homeported in Mayport about 130 NM from the cape.

So is it likely that they were either involved or at least able to view the launch?

 

[Brett327]

So if your destroyer is following the carrier during flight ops, it is called standing plane guard...

Then what is it called when your destroyer is sitting of cape canaveral during a shuttle launch?

Is there a standard amount/configuration of ships involved each time the shuttle launches?

I ask this as my Son who is a Midshipman is on his 3/c cruise on the USS Carney. They got underway Mon morning and the shuttle launched Mon at 14:30ish. Carney is homeported in Mayport about 130 NM from the cape.

So is it likely that they were either involved or at least able to view the launch?

There are lots of potential SAR (Search And Rescue) assets that get placed on various alerts, or are pre-positioned for shuttle launches. Back in my P-3 days, one squadron had to stand an alert crew/plane during shuttle launches. Positioning any ships in the area would serve the same function. Dunno if that particular was part of the launch, but they definitely would have been able to see it.

Brett

 

[Lawman]

So is it likely that they were either involved or at least able to view the launch?

Having spent 6 years at Patrick AFB I can tell you if he is anywhere near Melbourne there is no doubt he will be able to see the launch. Hell we could watch them go up from Daytona (70ish miles north).

 

[Uncle Fester]

Most of the military boats and planes that hang around for shuttle launches are mostly there for range clearance and security. Every idiot with a boat or Cessna wants to go fly around and watch the launch. You'd think after Challenger that all the lookie-loos would want to stay out of the downrange area, but no. And since 9/11, security is a big deal.

You can indeed see the launch from a hella long way away, but anywhere more than about 75 miles away, it just looks like a contrail going up fast, rather than horizontally slowly. Still, very cool...hey, that's the space shuttle!...and besides, there aren't going to be too many more shuttle flights.