Orion Launch Today

[Eric Mc]

Another abort.

[CrutyRammers]

AAAAAAGH!!!

[LordGrover]

The tension...

[Eric Mc]

The wind is putting the wind up me.

[MrRee145]

That must be so infuriating for the mission control team.

[CrutyRammers]

Yeah, they do a great job of remaining completely calm through it all. Not a single "Oh FFS" to be heard.

[Eric Mc]

More the Launch Control people ( a different group based at the Cape) Mission Control is based at Houston, Texas. Mission Control tend to take over as soon as the rocket has cleared the launch tower - although I'm not sure at what point they get involved on this flight.

They are well used to such scenarios playing out. To launch a rocket safely a whole load of criteria have to be met and multiple holds or even scrubs are not unusual.

[rhysenna]

Are they booster rockets on the side?

[thatdude]

Gosh, it's tense isn't it.

Still, it's better to be done properly than screw it up just so the media have something to write about.

[anonymous-user]

Is this limiting wind a surface wind or winds higher up?

Looks like the surface wind is under 10 knots going by nearby airfields etc.

[Eric Mc]

rhysenna said:

Are they booster rockets on the side?

Yes - although they are essentially the same as the main "core" section of the rocket.

The Delta IV Heavy is powered by three R68 liquid hydrogen/oxygen engines. As a result, if and when this thing takes off, you will see that the plume from the exhausts is a lot cleaner than that from (say) the Space Shuttle, the boosters of which were Solid Fueled and left a dense, smokey (and pretty poisonous) trail.

[MartG]

rhysenna said:

Are they booster rockets on the side?

The Delta 4 Heavy uses three identical Delta 4 stages strapped together

[Eric Mc]

el stovey said:

Is this limiting wind a surface wind or winds higher up?

Looks like the surface wind is under 10 knots going by nearby airfields etc.

They have been referring to low altitude "gusts" which are exceeding the limits.

[rhysenna]

Eric Mc said:

rhysenna said:

Are they booster rockets on the side?

Yes - although they are essentially the same as the main "core" section of the rocket.

The Delta IV Heavy is powered by three R68 liquid hydrogen/oxygen engines. As a result, if and when this thing takes off, you will see that the plume from the exhausts is a lot cleaner than that from (say) the Space Shuttle, the boosters of which were Solid Fueled and left a dense, smokey (and pretty poisonous) trail.

What's the difference in weight between this and Saturn V?

[anonymous-user]

What's the latest blast off estimate?

[Eric Mc]

rhysenna said:

What's the difference in weight between this and Saturn V?

The thrust of the two gives an indication of the weights they are having to lift.

The Delta IV Heavy produces around 2 million pounds of thrust on lift off.

The Saturn V produced 7.5 million pounds of thrust on lift off.

The Delta IV Heavy is currently the most powerful rocket available to the US. So far, most of its launches have been putting heavy Department of Defense payloads into low earth orbit.

[jmorgan]

Hour and a half launch window left?

[CrutyRammers]

So the temperature on the central engine is too high, the resolution is to ignore that and take the measurement from a different sensor which is ok.
Excellent

[jmorgan]

13:26?

[Eric Mc]

That's why they have multiple sensors.

Once a rocket launch has been put on hold, all sorts of niggly problems start raising their head as the fully fueled booster sits there cold soaking all that oxidant and propellant.