Rocket Launch notification thread

[MartG]

Busy day !

"This is turning out to be quite a day: Virgin Galactic’s Space Ship Two will have a flight test, China is launching a pair of satellites on a Long March 3B, NROL-47 should lift off from Vandenberg, Orion is undergoing a water recovery run through with the Navy, and of course the main event Falcon Heavy"

[pc.iow]

AshVX220 said:

essayer said:

essayer said:

2 mins to SpaceX CRS-13 launch

http://www.spacex.com/webcast

OK, that was spectacular. The way stage 1/2 separate then stage 1 boosts back is seriously impressive.

Makes my day job look rubbish!

I managed to drive out to the coast to see this, my first launch up close, although I was probably 6-7 miles from the pad, so not as much noise as I'd expected, still hugely impressive to see it. Where I was stood the sonic booms hit about 20-30 seconds after the 1st stage touched back down.

In that video at 16.33, how come there's no cables from all the computers?
Wheres me tin foil...

[Eric Mc]

MartG said:

Busy day !

"This is turning out to be quite a day: Virgin Galactic’s Space Ship Two will have a flight test, China is launching a pair of satellites on a Long March 3B, NROL-47 should lift off from Vandenberg, Orion is undergoing a water recovery run through with the Navy, and of course the main event Falcon Heavy"

Falcon Heavy test scrubbed.

Not too surprising.

[FurtiveFreddy]

What we need is SMS notification just before it happens...

[Beati Dogu]

They were at least fuelling it at one point earlier. You could see it venting.



Tonight's Delta IV rocket looks like it'll go off this time.

They're 80 percent sure the weather will be ok. Ground winds are the only concern.

Coverage starts at 8.40 pm UK time.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/01/10/delta-4-nrol...

[MartG]

Launch time set for 9:55 UK time

[Beati Dogu]

Yes, and last chance to see a single-core Delta IV launch.

[MartG]

Now 22:05

[MartG]

Beati Dogu said:

Yes, and last chance to see a single-core Delta IV launch.

Err - Delta 4 • GPS 3-01 later this year
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will launch the U.S. Air Force’s first third-generation navigation satellite for the Global Positioning System. The rocket will fly in the Medium+ (4,2) configuration with two solid rocket boosters. Delayed from May 3 and late 2017.

[Beati Dogu]

From Vandenberg and in this configuration too actually. There's a couple more from Florida later this year and that's it. The last Delta II flight will be later this year too.

[MartG]

Abort

[Beati Dogu]

Some issue with the swing arm on the launch tower. So many issues with equipment today.

[Eric Mc]

Is it scrubbed or just on hold? I see the clock is stopped at T-4 minutes.

[MartG]

Eric Mc said:

Is it scrubbed or just on hold? I see the clock is stopped at T-4 minutes.

Still just on hold, but looking ever more likely to be scrubbed the longer it is delayed

[Eric Mc]

Agreed. Bits get too cold and drop below permissible temperature limits.

[Beati Dogu]

ULA have just Tweeted "The team has established a workaround for the swing arm issue that stopped the last countdown"

So they're looking to start the clock again soon.



They had quite a long launch window (nearly 5 hours) and being a classified payload, the exact launch time wasn't made public anyway.

[Eric Mc]

Now set for 5 minutes past midnight (UK time).

[Beati Dogu]

Light this candle already.


BTW The pad's ex-Shuttle hardware is quite impressive.

[Eric Mc]

Pity the Shuttle never went from SLC-6.

[Eric Mc]

Hold Hold Hold.


Bed beckons, I'm afraid.