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April 20, 2004
Gravity Probe Launch Successful
At 9:57:24 AM PDT today, the Gravity Probe B spacecraft was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in South-central California. The countdown went smoothly, and at the moment of launch, a packed auditorium here at Stanford University broke into cheers and applause. The launch is proceeding perfectly,exceeding all of our expectations. The initial visual images from the various tracking stations were heart-warming and beautiful to behold--surpassed perhaps only by the extraordinary images from the two cameras on-board the second stage, which showed the separation of the spacecraft from the launch vehicle more than 300 miles above the Earth.
A few interesting facts: The experiment took 40 years and $700 million to develop. The satellite includes a container of 645 gallons of liquid Helium (to cool). Only one gyroscope is needed but four were deployed to ensure accuracy. Einstein's theory was made 89 years ago.
Posted by Blogorithm at April 20, 2004 10:45 PM
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