SBIRS-GEO 1 - Atlas V 401 - Canaveral SLC-41 - 07.05.2011 18:10 UTC

[us2-star]

Не сегодня...
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[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/

Cloudy weather postpones Atlas 5 rocket launch

The local weather conditions at Cape Canaveral kept the Atlas 5 rocket on the launch pad today, postponing this mission to deploy the SBIRS GEO-1 missile warning satellite until Saturday at 2:10 p.m. EDT (1810 GMT).

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av022/preflight/

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av022/prelaunch/

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av022/panos/

[Tiger]

Бесстыжие какие, со всех сторон его зафотографировали и выложили.  :lol:

[KBOB]

2 часа до открытия окна. Летят или нет?

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av022/status.html

1634 GMT (12:34 p.m. EDT)
The chilldown conditioning of liquid hydrogen propellant lines at Complex 41 is starting to prepare the plumbing for transferring the Minus-423 degree F fuel into the rocket. The Centaur holds about 12,680 gallons of the cryogenic propellant.

1632 GMT (12:32 p.m. EDT)
Centaur liquid oxygen is three-quarters full.

1629 GMT (12:29 p.m. EDT)
The chilldown conditioning of the systems for the first stage liquid oxygen tank have been completed. And a "go" has been given to begin pumping supercold liquid oxygen into the Atlas 5's first stage.

The Common Core Booster stage's liquid oxygen tank is the largest tank to be filled today. It holds 48,860 gallons of cryogenic oxidizer for the RD-180 main engine.

1623 GMT (12:23 p.m. EDT)
The Centaur liquid oxygen tank has reached the 30 percent mark.

1612 GMT (12:12 p.m. EDT)
Filling of the Centaur upper stage with about 4,150 gallons of liquid oxygen has begun at Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 following the thermal conditioning of the transfer pipes.

The liquid oxygen -- chilled to Minus-298 degrees F -- will be consumed during the launch by the Centaur's single RL10 engine along with liquid hydrogen to be pumped into the stage a little later in the countdown. The Centaur will perform two firings to propel the payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

1606 GMT (12:06 p.m. EDT)
The Centaur liquid oxygen pad storage area has been prepped. The next step is conditioning the transfer lines, which is now beginning to prepare the plumbing for flowing the cryogenic oxidizer.

1600 GMT (12:00 p.m. EDT)
T-minus 120 minutes and counting! The launch countdown is continuing on schedule for today's flight of the Atlas 5 rocket with the first Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous (SBIRS GEO-1) satellite aboard.

Clocks have one more built-in hold planned at T-minus 4 minutes. That pause will last 10 minutes during which time the final "go" for launch will be given. All remains targeted for liftoff at 2:10 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41.

In the next couple of minutes, chilldown thermal conditioning of the mobile launch platform upon which the rocket stands will begin. This is meant to ease the shock on equipment when supercold cryogenic propellants start flowing into the rocket.

1558 GMT (11:58 a.m. EDT)
After briefing his team on procedures before entering into the final two hours of the countdown, the launch conductor at the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center just held a pre-fueling readiness poll. All console operators reported a "ready" status.

The ULA launch director also voiced his approval for proceeding with the countdown.

Loading of cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen into the Atlas 5 rocket will be getting underway a short time from now.

1545 GMT (11:45 a.m. EDT)
The SBIRS GEO-1 spacecraft was shipped from Lockheed Martin's manufacturing factory in Sunnyvale, California, to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on March 3 aboard a C-5 transport aircraft.

The satellite spent the next several weeks at the DSCS Processing Facility undergoing launch base confidence testing after shipment, fueling with 5,000 pounds of maneuvering propellant and encapsulation in the rocket's nose cone before its move to the Atlas' vertical assembly facility on April 26 for mounting atop the booster.

See a collection of photographs showing the satellite's launch campaign.

The Cape facilities received an infrastructure upgrade in preparation for this new breed for SBIRS satellites, including electrical, communications and environmental control and even a new access road from runway to processing building.

1530 GMT (11:30 a.m. EDT)
T-minus 2 hours and holding. The countdown has just entered the first of two planned holds over the course of the day that will lead to the 2:10 p.m. EDT launch of the Atlas rocket. This initial pause lasts 30 minutes, giving the team some margin in the countdown timeline to deal with technical issues or any work that is running behind. The final hold is scheduled to occur at T-minus 4 minutes and will last for 10 minutes.

1524 GMT (11:24 a.m. EDT)
The Complex 41 pad and the danger area have been cleared of all workers for the remainder of the countdown.

1519 GMT (11:19 a.m. EDT)
The launch weather officer has amended the forecast to reduce visibility down to 5 miles. There's a fire up north that is blowing haze into the Cape Canaveral area. But that won't be a problem for launch. Current conditions are acceptable and expected to remain that way all day.

1505 GMT (11:05 a.m. EDT)
Activities in the launch countdown this morning are proceeding nicely. No issues are being reported as clocks target a 2:10 p.m. EDT liftoff of the Atlas 5 rocket. The guidance system testing just wrapped up and the pad crew is finishing its hands-on work at Complex 41 now.

1435 GMT (10:35 a.m. EDT)
The hazard area roadblocks around the launch site's safety perimeter are being established now. And the launch team has started configuring the pad's water deluge system. Also, inspections of the pad have been completed.

[KBOB]

T-4 и ждем.

[instml]

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av022/status.html

1750 GMT (1:50 p.m. EDT)
Now just 20 minutes away from launch.

A reminder that if you will be away from your computer but would like to receive occasional countdown updates, sign up for our Twitter feed to get text message updates on your cellphone. U.S. readers can also sign up from their phone by texting "follow spaceflightnow" to 40404. (Standard text messaging charges apply.)

And check out Spaceflight Now's Facebook page!

1745 GMT (1:45 p.m. EDT)
Take a unique look around Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 launch pad with these panoramic images taken on Thursday afternoon. They show the Atlas 5 rocket standing poised for blastoff carrying SBIRS GEO-1, the Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous-1 missile warning satellite.

1740 GMT (1:40 p.m. EDT)
Thirty minutes from liftoff. The countdown clocks are heading to the T-minus 4 minute mark where a planned 10-minute hold will occur. Launch of Atlas 5 remains scheduled for 2:10 p.m. EDT.

1734 GMT (1:34 p.m. EDT)
Pre-launch checks of the rocket's safety system have been completed.

1725 GMT (1:25 p.m. EDT)
Just 45 minutes until liftoff time of the SBIRS GEO-1 satellite that begins the next generation of geosynchronous spacecraft to continuously look for missile launches and alert the national leadership and battlefield commanders.

The SBIRS GEO-1 spacecraft, which weighs about 10,000 pounds at launch, was built by Lockheed Martin using the company's commercial A2100 satellite design. It features a pair of power-generating solar arrays, two communications antenna wings that unfold and a deployable light shade to shield its sensitive infrared instruments.

Unlikely the previous generation of Defense Support Program missile warning satellites that have only scanning sensors, the SBIRS GEO spacecraft has both scanning and staring instruments to increase the amount of reconnaissance that can be collected.

"We have two taskible sensors on the satellite," said Jeff Smith, Lockheed Martin's vice president and SBIRS program director. "One is a scanner and one is a starer. The scanner is used for global surveillance and the starer is used to look in certain areas. We can put it where ever we want, basically, to see dimmer targets and see faster burning targets. So the ability is to task this system to do both global and theater missions and intelligence missions simultaneously is really the revolutionary part of this system."

The SBIRS system will augment and gradually replace the heritage Defense Support Program satellites.

"Once launched and fielded, GEO-1 will bring the dawn of a new era in persistant overhead surveillance," said Brig. Gen. (s) Roger Teague, director of the U.S. Air Force's Infrared Space Systems Directorate.

"GEO-1 will play a vital role in our national security space architecture, and we look forward to getting this satellite on-orbit. After GEO-1 is launched, and early orbit tests are complete, SBIRS will deliver unprecedented, global, persistent, infrared surveillance capabilities to our nation for decades to come."

1718 GMT (1:18 p.m. EDT)
Fast-filling of the first stage liquid oxygen tank has been completed. Topping mode is now underway.

1716 GMT (1:16 p.m. EDT)
The liquid hydrogen tank in the Centaur upper stage just reached the 97 percent level. Topping is now beginning.

1714 GMT (1:14 p.m. EDT)
The first stage liquid oxygen tank is 90 percent full now.

1711 GMT (1:11 p.m. EDT)
The weather remains excellent and posing no worries today.

1710 GMT (1:10 p.m. EDT)
Now 60 minutes from liftoff. Fueling of the Atlas rocket with cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen is proceeding as planned for a liftoff at 2:10 p.m. EDT.

If you are heading out to Titusville or the beach to watch the launch, sign up for our Twitter feed to get occasional countdown updates on your cellphone. U.S. readers can also sign up from their phone by texting "follow spaceflightnow" to 40404. (Standard text messaging charges apply.)

1709 GMT (1:09 p.m. EDT)
The first stage liquid oxygen has reached the 80 percent level.

1704 GMT (1:04 p.m. EDT)
Centaur's liquid hydrogen tank is 20 percent full. The cryogenic propellant will be consumed with liquid oxygen by the stage's Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne-made RL10 engine.

1657 GMT (12:57 p.m. EDT)
Chilldown of the liquid hydrogen system has been accomplished. The launch team has received the "go" to begin filling the Centaur upper stage with the supercold fuel.

1656 GMT (12:56 p.m. EDT)
First stage liquid oxygen tank is 50 percent full thus far. Chilled to Minus-298 degrees F, the liquid oxygen will be used with RP-1 kerosene by the RD-180 main engine on the first stage during the initial four-and-a-quarter minutes of flight today. The 25,000 gallons of RP-1 were loaded into the rocket earlier.

1650 GMT (12:50 p.m. EDT)
The Centaur engine chilldown sequence is being initiated.

1646 GMT (12:46 p.m. EDT)
Upper stage liquid oxygen has reached flight level.

1640 GMT (12:40 p.m. EDT)
Now just 90 minutes away from launch.

A reminder that if you will be away from your computer but would like to receive occasional countdown updates, sign up for our Twitter feed to get text message updates on your cellphone. U.S. readers can also sign up from their phone by texting "follow spaceflightnow" to 40404. (Standard text messaging charges apply.)

And check out Spaceflight Now's Facebook page!

1638 GMT (12:38 p.m. EDT)
The Centaur liquid oxygen tank reached the 95 percent level. The topping off process is starting now.

1637 GMT (12:37 p.m. EDT)
The first stage liquid oxygen loading is switching from slow-fill to fast-fill mode.

[Salo]

12 минут до открытия стартового окна.

[Salo]

Видео:
http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/Flash_Webcast.shtml

[Liss]

В 22:10 летнего московского ждем.

[Salo]

Улетела!

[Liss]

Отсечка РД-180. Разделение. Запуск "Центавра".

[Salo]

Есть отделение первой ступени!
РД-180 отработал! :wink:

[Salo]

1812 GMT (2:12 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 5 minutes, 45 seconds. The rocket is tracking right down the planned flight path.

1812 GMT (2:12 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 5 minutes, 20 seconds. The rocket is 117 miles in altitude, some 403 miles downrange and traveling over 11,150 mph already.

1815 GMT (2:15 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 5 minutes. Centaur engine readings look good as this burn gets underway.

1814 GMT (2:14 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 4 minutes, 25 seconds. Centaur has ignited! The RL10 engine is up and running at full thrust for its first of two planned firings today.

1814 GMT (2:14 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 4 minutes, 32 seconds. The two-halves of the Atlas 5 rocket nose cone encapsulating the spacecraft have separated.

1814 GMT (2:14 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 4 minutes, 14 seconds. The Atlas 5's Common Core Booster first stage has been jettisoned, and the Centaur upper stage's liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen systems are being readied for engine start.

1814 GMT (2:14 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 4 minutes, 6 seconds. BECO. Booster Engine Cutoff is confirmed as the RD-180 powerplant on the first stage completes its burn. Standing by to fire the retro thrusters and separate the spent stage.

1813 GMT (2:13 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 3 minutes, 50 seconds. The vehicle is accelerating at 5 g's.

1813 GMT (2:13 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 3 minutes, 25 seconds. The rocket now weighs only a quarter of what it did at liftoff.

1813 GMT (2:13 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 3 minutes. RD-180 is performing well as the rocket climbs away from the planet.

1812 GMT (2:12 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 2 minutes, 45 seconds. Reaction control system has been activated.

1812 GMT (2:12 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 2 minutes. The rocket is tracking on course.

1811 GMT (2:11 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 1 minutes, 45 seconds. The RD-180 main engine continues to fire normally, burning a mixture of highly refined kerosene and liquid oxygen.

1811 GMT (2:11 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 95 seconds. Maximum dynamic pressure.

1811 GMT (2:11 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 84 seconds. Mach 1.

1811 GMT (2:11 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 60 seconds. One minute into the ascent. It will take 43 minutes for the two-stage rocket to deploy the Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous-1 satellite into the desired orbit.

1810 GMT (2:10 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 40 seconds. The thunderous roar from the Atlas is reverberating across the Cape. Good engine performance is reported from the rocket.

1810 GMT (2:10 p.m. EDT)
T+plus 15 seconds. The vehicle has cleared the towers at Complex 41 on 860,000 pounds of thrust from the RD-180 main engine.

1810 GMT (2:10 p.m. EDT)
LIFTOFF! Liftoff of the Atlas 5 rocket and SBIRS GEO-1, beginning a new era for surveillance sentinels in space.

[Liss]

Второе включение. Репортаж продолжается, видео с мультиком тоже.

[Liss]

T+28:14. Есть выключение "Центавра", есть геопереходная орбиты.