AFSPC-11, EAGLE (ESPA Augmented Geostationary Laboratory Experiment): HTI-SpX, MYCROFT, CEASE-III-RR, ISAL, ARMOR - Atlas V 551 (AV-079) - CCAFS SLC-41 - 22:00 14.04.2018 - 02:41 15.04.2018 (UTC)

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Tory Bruno‏Подлинная учетная запись @torybruno 2 мин. назад

Polling is all Go for Cryo. #AFSPC11

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04/15/2018 00:28 Stephen Clark

T-minus 1 hour, 30 minutes and counting. Chilldown conditioning of the systems for the first stage liquid oxygen tank has been accomplished. The launch team just gave a "go" to begin loading super-cold liquid oxygen into the Atlas 5's first stage.

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04/15/2018 00:50 Stephen Clark

Chilldown conditioning of the Centaur liquid hydrogen system has been completed. The ULA launch team has been given approval to begin pumping the cryogenic fuel into the Centaur upper stage, which will receive around 12,300 gallons of liquid hydrogen.

04/15/2018 00:50 Stephen Clark

The chilldown sequence to thermally condition the Centaur stage's Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1 engine has started.

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04/15/2018 00:53 Stephen Clark

Good evening from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a few miles from the Atlas 5 launch pad. Ground winds are a bit brisk, but weather conditions are nearly ideal for an Atlas 5 launch today at 7:13 p.m. EDT (2313 GMT).

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 1 мин. назад

One hour until the launch window opens for today's #AtlasV / #AFSPC11 mission for the U.S. Air Force. All countdown events have been hitting their marks so far, cryo load is in its final stages before all tanks will have reached topping.

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Spaceflight101 LIVE‏ @S101_Live 55 сек. назад

Entering the last hour of the countdown, #AtlasV will repeat Flight Termination System open-loop checks and the flight control system will be prepared for launch by purging history data, setting up the fault detection system and uploading the final flight software version.

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William Harwood‏ @cbs_spacenews 2 мин. назад

A5/AFSPC: But the broadcast is expected to end shortly after payload fairing separation at T+3:31

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 Trevor Mahlmann‏ @TrevorMahlmann 8 мин. назад

This #AFSPC11 launch is going to be gorgeous when it goes. Not a cloud in the sky!

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Spaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow 27 сек. назад

The 1.3-million-pound Atlas 5 rocket is now fully loaded with liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, kerosene and solid propellants for liftoff from Cape Canaveral at 7:13pm EDT (2313 GMT) on a US Air Force satellite delivery mission (ULA photo). Live coverage: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/13/av-079-mission-status-center/ ...

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Немного статистики

04/15/2018 01:28 Stephen Clark

45 minutes until launch. Here are some statistics on tonight's mission:

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• 659th launch for Atlas program since 1957
• 362nd Atlas launch from Cape Canaveral
• 248th mission of a Centaur upper stage
• 225th use of Centaur by an Atlas rocket
• 487th production RL10 engine to be launched
• 25th RL10C-1 engine launched
• 83rd flight of an RD-180 main engine
• 101st-105th AJ-60 solid rocket boosters flown
• 77th launch of an Atlas 5 since 2002
• 28th U.S. Air Force use of an Atlas 5
• 63rd launch of an Atlas 5 from Cape Canaveral
• 3rd Atlas 5 launch of 2018
• 113th Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle flight
• 127th United Launch Alliance flight overall
• 69th Atlas 5 under United Launch Alliance
• 91st United Launch Alliance flight from Cape Canaveral
• 49th ULA launch for U.S. Air Force
• 25th 500-series flight of the Atlas 5
• 8th Atlas 5 to fly in the 551 configuration
• 90th launch from Complex 41
• 63rd Atlas 5 to use Complex 41
• 8th launch overall from Cape Canaveral in 2018
  

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04/15/2018 01:31 Stephen Clark

Today's Atlas 5 mission will last around six hours, using three burns by the rocket's Centaur upper stage to place the Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM and EAGLE satellites into a circular orbit at an altitude of roughly 24,200 miles over the equator.

Спойлер

This evening's flight is the first time an unclassified Atlas 5 mission has placed geostationary payloads so close to their final orbital positions. Details of top secret missions for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government's spy satellite agency, have not been disclosed.

The high-altitude deployment is in contrast to the mission profile for most satellites heading to geostationary orbit. In most cases, launchers release their payloads in an elliptical transfer orbit roughly a half-hour after liftoff, and the spacecraft must use on-board propellant to raise its altitude and null out its inclination to arrive on station over the equator.

A direct trip to geostationary orbit requires a long-duration coast and an engine restart after six hours in space, a capability used by ULA on multiple Delta 4 rocket flights.

Today's flight, codenamed AFSPC 11, will be ULA's fourth of 2018, and the third by an Atlas 5 rocket, which has logged 76 missions since 2002. It will be the eighth launch from Cape Canaveral since Jan. 1, including launches by ULA's Atlas 5 and SpaceX's Falcon rocket families.

AFSPC 11 is the 28th Atlas 5 mission for a branch of the U.S. military, and the 46th Atlas 5 launch with a U.S. national security payload. It is the eighth time an Atlas 5 rocket has flown in the launcher family's most capable "551" version with five boosters, a five-meter fairing and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.

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Tory Bruno‏Подлинная учетная запись @torybruno 2 мин. назад

Cryo loading complete. Topping off. Mighty Atlas is carbo loaded and champing at the bit. #AFSPC11

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04/15/2018 01:37 Stephen Clark

The CBAS and EAGLE spacecraft are switching to their internal battery power supplies at this time./QUOTE]

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04/15/2018 01:39 Stephen Clark

ULA's launch conductor reports the Atlas 5 team is currently working no issues in the countdown.

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04/15/2018 01:42 Stephen Clark

The fuel fill sequence for the RD-180 main engine is starting, and final testing of the Atlas 5 rocket's flight termination system is complete. Final preparations of the rocket's flight control system are also reported complete.

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04/15/2018 01:45 Stephen Clark

The final pre-launch weather briefing continues to indicate no major weather threat to tonight's launch.

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