Rocket Launch notification thread

[MartG]

Good launch - good video of booster separation, and note the second stage nozzle extension sliding into place

[anonymous-user]

Good launch but it’s just not the same without the excitement of a SpaceX booster landing!

[Beati Dogu]

Yes, good footage. You really got to see it curving over and heading south past the Baja peninsula.

[MartG]

SloMo clip of last week's Araine V launch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEaZhGIhfzg

[MartG]

Soyuz due off from Kourou in a few minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPtr4Eec4Hg

[Zoobeef]

Uneven booster release again.

[Eric Mc]

Zoobeef said:

Uneven booster release again.

Looked normal to me.

[Zoobeef]

Right hand booster was definitely spinning slower than the other 3.

[Eric Mc]

A manned Soyuz launch to the ISS due off tomorrow at 7.00 pm UK time.

[Beati Dogu]

Live coverage of the Soyuz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex5ZEnKGe5M


They rolled the rocket out to the pad a couple of days ago. They always do so at the same time for luck - 7 am local - the time Yuri Gagarin's rocket rolled out. The crew themselves traditionally don't watch that process, as it would bring bad luck.

The crew follow other rituals too. From getting a haircut, planting a tree, to watching a particular Russian film (White Sun of the Desert) the night before the launch. Apparently, male cosmonauts even take a last minute pee on the back wheel of the bus before it makes it to the pad, just like Gagarin did.

[Beati Dogu]

Well they made it up OK, so the ISS is up to 6 people again. The 3 crew who are up there already are due to return to Earth in June.


There's also a Delta 4 off tonight carrying a Wideband Global SATCOM satellite for the US military. It'll have four solid rocket boosters.

Launch window is 22.56 - 01.05 GMT

Launch site SLC-37B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

[Eric Mc]

Live now -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmZwa7RFQs0

[Beati Dogu]

A daylight fireball of rockety goodness.

[Eric Mc]

They have a problem. Those Deltas are a bit tricky to get off.

[Beati Dogu]

They're finicky buggers.

This is the penultimate launch of a Delta 4 by the way. They've a GPS satellite launch in July and that's it.

Atlas V will take over its job, until Vulcan is operational.

Delta 4 Heavy will carry on for a few years yet for NRO missions.

[Eric Mc]

I bet it's not going tonight.

[Beati Dogu]

It's looking good, but it's getting dark there now.

[Eric Mc]

Can't talk to the TDRS network.

[Beati Dogu]

Go!

[Eric Mc]

Maybe.