Rocket(s) launching live

[orbitingpluto]

Webcast over, as something had happened after Maximum Dynamic Pressure(MaxQ)- nobody knows just what yet. Maybe later today after more is known, or later if understanding takes awhile, I'll post something.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Well it wasn't an instantaneous failure, it took about ten-fifteen seconds to go from "everything fine" to "nothing left but small debris." The engines seemed to be throttling back before the incident, dunno if that's connected to the accident or if it was getting close to first stage separation.

[orbitingpluto]

Apparently whatever happened, it occurred just before first stage shut down.

[Eternal_Freedom]

That explains the fact that the engines appeared to be powering down.

[orbitingpluto]

Elon Musk says "There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause."

There's also going to be a news conference no earlier than 12:30pm EST, which will be live on NASA TV.

[orbitingpluto]

News conference has started.

[orbitingpluto]

If you couldn't watch the webcast, on Reddit there is a subreddit on the conference, which has a summery of of the information giving during the conference. Some things I'll point out here: the focus for SpaceX and FAA investigators is on the second stage being the cause of the problem, though SpaceX is hesitant to say more than that, as they do not have all the data yet- the ISS is fine for the short term, though long term they lost a docking adapter, a space suit, and a water filtration bed, all of which will have impacts further down the line. Not to mention a bunch of student science experiments, some of which are rebuilds of equipment that was lost during last October's Antares explosion, which took out a Cygnus cargo vehicle. Poor kids, two rockets blew up on them.


Getting back to the main topic, this loss puts some extra emphasis on the upcoming Progress launch on July 3rd; which I believe is the next rocket launching with a live webcast as well. I heard during the conference that the Russians had pulled out a older model of the Soyuz third stage, one that shouldn't have the same problems that caused the last failure. Whatever the fixes, it's still the return to flight after not only Progress's accident, but also after the accident of American fan-favorite. I can't think of a good allusion to end on, so I have to leave you with the promise of webcast links before launch.

[Irbis]

Video:

[K. A. Pital]

In this thread we learn that reading sci-fi and being enthusiastic is not enough to ensure reliability of space launches.

[Beowulf]

Then again, launching a single rocket type + derivatives for nearly 60 years isn't enough to ensure reliability of space launches either.

[K. A. Pital]

Then again, launching a single rocket type + derivatives for nearly 60 years isn't enough to ensure reliability of space launches either.

Alas, at some point paying engineers pathetic money and stocking polytechnic universities with rich monkeys who bribe teachers instead of smart students will ruin even the best and most resilient rocket industry in the world.

[orbitingpluto]

I think there is a Russian webcast through Roscosmos, but I'm having trouble finding it. Oh well, it's NASA TV again, and the time the coverage starts is 12:30am EST on Friday, July 3rd. Docking is scheduled to be on Sunday, and will be covered in the ISS thread.

[K. A. Pital]

I think there is a Russian webcast through Roscosmos, but I'm having trouble finding it. Oh well, it's NASA TV again, and the time the coverage starts is 12:30am EST on Friday, July 3rd. Docking is scheduled to be on Sunday, and will be covered in the ISS thread.

http://www.tsenki.com/broadcast/

The broadcast will run on the third of July, as planned.

[orbitingpluto]

Under two hours to launch- planned launch time is 4:55 am UTC, and webcasts should start 20 minutes before that. As a side effect of using the older type of third stage, the newer 6-hour rendezvous cannot take place, since the old equipment doesn't support it. Instead, it's the same 2 day catch up that has been done since before Mir.

[orbitingpluto]

5 minutes to launch- everything looking good thus far.

[orbitingpluto]

Liftoff!

[orbitingpluto]

First stage separation, everything good this far.

[orbitingpluto]

Separation went well, now on the third stage.

[orbitingpluto]

Third stage shutdown and Progress is separated- it's solar arrays and antennas are also deployed, everything looking good for the rendezvous on Sunday.

[SpottedKitty]

And she's off. Good launch, good powered flight, all OK so far. I think now we're getting a picture from the Progress docking camera.

[orbitingpluto]

Going forward, I'm going to mention the launches without webcasts- because now that I found out today's Indian PSLV launch does have one, there's only the next hour and a half for anyone here to find that out and get ready should they want to see it. Here the link, webcast starts 30 minutes before liftoff, and liftoff is set for 4:28 UTC, which is approximately an hour and 55 minutes from the time this post. Sorry about the short warning.

[orbitingpluto]

Liftoff- night launches are cool.

[orbitingpluto]

And now 5 satellites from the UK have successfully been put into a polar orbit by the Indian PSLV. Next webcasts(plural) will be on the 15, with the Atlas V launching earlier in the day at 3:36 PM UTC, and later the Ariane 5 at 9:27 pm UTC.

[orbitingpluto]

There's two links for the Atlas V webcast, one that is supposed to be for mobiles(I'm not sure how that link works) and a regular one. The Ariane 5 launch will be streamed via Arianespace's website here.

The Ariane will be launching a geostationary communications satellite and the second-to-last satellite of the second-generation Meteosat geostationary weather satellite series, but before either of those get their chance to go up, it's the turn of a GPS satellite to be launched by a Atlas V out of Cape Canaveral. Here's hoping all goes well as we watch these two rockets muscle their routine cargoes skywards.

[orbitingpluto]

The Atlas V launch went well, though I missed seeing it live. I'm linking to a video of it, but I'd like to know if doing that regularly after each launch is something people want to see. If I don't hear anything, I'll take that as a 'no'.

Anyway, somewhat over twenty minutes from now, the Ariane 5 will have it's turn. Good luck, Arianespace!