Inmarsat 5 F4 – Falcon 9 – Кеннеди LC-39A – 15.05.2017 – 23:21 UTC

[tnt22]

SpaceXUpdates‏ @SpaceXUpdates 25 сек. назад

Next steps are detanking and safing, going horizontal, rollback and integration to Inmarsat-5 F4 #I5F4

[tnt22]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/05/11/with-static-fire-complete-falcon-9-prepares-to-meet-inmarsat-payload/

After static fire, Falcon 9 prepares to meet Inmarsat payload
 May 11, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ten days after the last liftoff fr om historic launch pad 39A in Florida, another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ignited its Merlin main engines for several seconds in a hold-down firing Thursday ahead of a planned expendable flight next week with an Inmarsat communications satellite.

The two-stage rocket was filled with super-chilled, densified RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants in a mock countdown Thursday. SpaceX engineers monitored the computer-controlled countdown as the rocket's engines were primed and fuel tanks pressurized for ignition.

Nine Merlin 1D engines fired for around three seconds at 1645 GMT (12:45 p.m. EDT) as clamps restrained the launcher at pad 39A. A plume of exhaust rushed out the flame trench to the north of the seaside facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX was expected to confirm on Twitter that the customary preflight test, called a static fire, was successfully accomplished. Engineers will look at data on the performance of the engines before convening a launch readiness review ahead of a planned blastoff Monday evening.

Спойлер

The next step in the launch campaign will be the removal and rollback of the Falcon 9 rocket to SpaceX's hangar about a quarter-mile to the south of pad 39A. The structure is built on top of the crawlerway wh ere Saturn 5 moon rockets and space shuttles traveled before climbing into orbit.

The Inmarsat 5 F4 satellite, a Boeing-built craft designed to link airplanes and ships via broadband, inside SpaceX's payload fairing will be rotated on its side and connected with the Falcon 9 inside the hangar this weekend.

Owned by London-based Inmarsat, the satellite will join a fleet of three other relay platforms in geostationary orbit providing global broadband connectivity to airliners, business jets, maritime vessels, oil and gas industry users, and military units.

Inmarsat ordered the satellite from Boeing in 2014 as a spare for the Global Xpress network. At the time, Inmarsat projected Inmarsat 5 F4 to cost between $220 million and $250 million.

After a check of the mechanical and electrical interfaces between the launcher and the Inmarsat 5 F4 satellite, SpaceX ground crews will transfer the Falcon 9 horizontally back up the ramp to pad 39A on Sunday or early Monday. Hydraulic pistons will hoist the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket vertical for Monday's countdown.

The launch window Monday opens at 7:20 p.m. EDT (2320 GMT) and extends for 50 minutes. The Falcon 9 will head east from the Cape Canaveral spaceport to place the Inmarsat satellite into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit with reaching tens of thousands of miles above Earth.

Inmarsat 5 F4's on-board thrusters will guide the satellite to a perch in circular orbit around 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) over the equator.

The upcoming mission will be the sixth SpaceX launch of the year, and the fifth Falcon 9 flight from pad 39A since Feb. 19. It will mark the 99th liftoff from the storied launch complex, which entered service in the Apollo era and hosted the majority of space shuttle launches, including the first and last departures of NASA's winged spaceships.

Monday's launch will be the 34th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket overall since SpaceX's commercially-developed booster debuted in June 2010.

The most recent Falcon 9 mission lifted off from pad 39A on May 1 with a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government's secretive spy satellite agency.

[свернуть]

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 1 мин. назад

I also like this photo as it shows the TEL rail tracks and pulley system and the old rails used by the Shuttle RSS.

[tnt22]

dfln пишет:
Мне показалось или в этот раз всё было значительно быстрей - начиная с подготовки к SFT и заканчивая выдачей положительного результата?

Подготовка шла по стандартной циклограмме, начиная с T-70 min (заправка RP-1). Просто в этот раз тестовое окно оч поздно объявили, а индикатором процесса являлось только визуальное наблюдение паров LOX...
Поддтверждение о нормальном проведении SFT пришло от SpaceX через 45 мин после окончания теста.

[tnt22]

SFT - Видео с другого ракурса

(1:00)

[tnt22]

Увезли...

[tnt22]

Прогноз погоды L-3
L-3 Forecast 15 May Launch
 

[tnt22]

Inmarsat‏Подлинная учетная запись @InmarsatGlobal 3 ч. назад

@Boeing & Inmarsat satellite teams say goodbye to #I5F4 as it's encapsulated into the payload fairing in prep for @SpaceX launch on 15 May

[tnt22]

05/12/2017 15:30
The Falcon 9 rocket has been lowered back to a horizontal position at launch pad 39A for rollback to SpaceX's hangar, where technicians will attach the Inmarsat 5 F4 communications satellite to the booster this weekend.

05/12/2017 17:39
The official weather outlook issued this morning by the U.S. Air Force indicates an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions during Monday evening's launch window.

"Winds will remain onshore Monday, pushing most sea breeze cumulus clouds inland," meteorologists at the Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron wrote in today's forecast. "There is a slight chance of afternoon storms near Florida's Big Bend, which could shed anvil cirrus back over towards the Space Coast.

"The primary weather concerns are cumulus clouds associated with onshore flow and anvil clouds from inland storms. Maximum upper-level winds will be from the west-northwest at 55 knots near 45,000 feet."

Conditions at launch time are predicted to by mostly sunny with isolated rain showers, with a few clouds at 2,500 feet and scattered clouds at 25,000 feet. Winds should be from the east at 12 to 17 mph, and temperature at launch time will be around 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

Monday's launch window opens at 7:20:46 p.m. EDT (2320:46 GMT) and extends for 50 minutes.

[tnt22]

DEIMOS IMAGING‏ @deimosimaging 6 ч.

Looking good #Falcon9 as seen by #DEIMOS2 during static fire test yesterday! Good luck for Monday's launch!

[tnt22]

http://www.inmarsat.com/i5f4/

The launch
(LIVE LAUNCH FEED COMING SOON)

Inmarsat-5 Flight 4 (I-5 F4) is scheduled for launch fr om historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

...

Our satellite will be deployed approximately 32 minutes after launch when it will come under the command of the Boeing and Inmarsat satellite operations teams based at the Boeing facility in El Segundo. From here I-5 F4 will be manoeuvred to its geostationary orbit, 35,786km (22,236 miles) above Earth, wh ere it will deploy its solar arrays and reflectors and undergo intensive payload testing before beginning commercial service.

[tnt22]

Inmarsat‏Подлинная учетная запись @InmarsatGlobal 10 ч. назад

Static fire test complete & we are go for launch! #I5F4 will fly w/ @SpaceX on 15 May 19:20EDT/00:20BST. Watch live: http://www.inmarsat.com/i5f4/ 

[Max Andriyahov]

При том что до сих пор ноги рисуют чёрными, хотя в реальности они белые.

[opinion]

Max Andriyahov пишет:
При том что до сих пор ноги рисуют чёрными, хотя в реальности они белые.

И надпись SpaceX в реальности не во всю длину ступени.

[tnt22]

Прогноз погоды L-2
L-2 Forecast 15 May Launch
 

[tnt22]

Официальная эмблема миссии
 

[tnt22]

Выпущен inmarsat5f4presskit.pdf - 298917 B, 2 стр

[tnt22]

[tnt22]

О трансляции

	SpaceX	http://www.spacex.com/webcast	англ
	SpaceX		англ
	Alpha Centauri		рус

[tnt22]

http://www.spacex.com/webcast

Inmarsat-5 Flight 4

SpaceX is targeting launch of Inmarsat-5 Flight 4 from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 51-minute launch window opens on Monday, May 15, at 7:20 p.m. EDT, or 23:20 UTC. A backup launch window opens on Tuesday, May 16, at 7:20 p.m. EDT, or 23:20 UTC. SpaceX will not attempt to land Falcon 9's first stage after launch due to mission requirements.
A mission press kit is available here.