From: del@branta.demon.co.uk   
      
   On Sun, 29 May 2005, in sci.space.tech,   
   Charles Talleyrand  said:   
      
   >How does one launch a into a polar orbit from French Guyana?  Where   
   >does the first and second stage drop?  I understand they are not   
   >bombing New England, but how do they avoid this?   
      
   Kourou, French Guyana is 53W, Cape Cod is more than 70W; there's no need   
   to worry particularly that stages will fall on Boston.  Assuming a   
   launch azimuth of zero degrees (i.e., right up the line of longitude),   
   the centre line of the range first encounters land at St. John's, on the   
   eastern tip of the island of Newfoundland.  After that it continues over   
   the sea until it reaches the north-western limb of Greenland.  All in   
   all, I can think of few Atlantic launching sites that would have a   
   longer range over sea at zero azimuth.  This site:   
      
   http://satobs.org/faq/Chapter-09.txt   
      
   says that Kourou launches can be as much as minus eleven degrees   
   azimuth.  Supposing it were a problem, launching a few degrees further   
   east, then correcting the path later ("dogleg" manoeuvre) would be an   
   option.   
      
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   Del Cotter   
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