Orion Launch Today
Discussion
CrutyRammers said:
Mornin' all.
According to the commentary, the valves stuck because they were immersed in the cold liquid gas for too long.
So if that boat hadn't been in the way, they'd have probably got off fine.
Now I'm fully aware that it's easy to say and hard to do...but one would have thought that a valve which is designed to be immersed in liquid gas would be designed to work for some hours longer than the longest possible hold - especially on something so critical. Maybe just not possible with current materials.
The launch window for this particular flight is MUCH longer than for most launches - purely because the spacecraft is not being aimed at a specific target in space. Therefore, the valves in the Delta were immersed in a cold environment for a longer period than would have been envisaged when the rocket was originally designed.According to the commentary, the valves stuck because they were immersed in the cold liquid gas for too long.
So if that boat hadn't been in the way, they'd have probably got off fine.
Now I'm fully aware that it's easy to say and hard to do...but one would have thought that a valve which is designed to be immersed in liquid gas would be designed to work for some hours longer than the longest possible hold - especially on something so critical. Maybe just not possible with current materials.
There are no plans to use a Delta IV Heavy for any further Orion flights. The next scheduled flight EM-1 will use an early version of the SLS.
Simpo Two said:
Guess so. It shows how little one absorbs from everyday media.
If NASA (or whoever's launching it, I'm not entirely sure now) were any good at branding they'd call it Saturn VI
If you have heritage, use it!
It's most definitely a NASA programme with overall control and management of the programme being in the hands of NASA. But just like Apollo, Gemini and Mercury before, a lot of the pad support and engineering is carried out by contractors. The current main contractor is United Launch Alliance (ULA) which is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed-Martin.If NASA (or whoever's launching it, I'm not entirely sure now) were any good at branding they'd call it Saturn VI
If you have heritage, use it!
Gandahar said:
It was me who was 13 
Nice story. I thought nearly everyone watched it? Biggest thing since Apollo of course at the time.
Sorry.Nice story. I thought nearly everyone watched it? Biggest thing since Apollo of course at the time.
Being stuck out in the sticks of rural Ireland in the early 80s, I wasn't completely surprised that nobody was that aware of what NASA was up to. They generally only turned on TVs in pubs for horse racing or Gaelic Football matches.
.RizzoTheRat said:
Given the amount of camera angles on the replays I reckon there must already be more footage of this than there is of all the Apollo missions
You would be amazed how much footage there is of Saturn launches. They used almost as many cameras as they use now - even on board cameras. The difference is that most of the cameras used film - although there was some use of TV imagery as well.If you get hold of the DVD called "The Mighty Saturns" you will see just how much footage there is. And that is just the Saturn launches.
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