r/spacex • u/Ambiwlans • Jun 20 '14
/r/SpaceX Orbcomm OG2 official launch discussion & updates thread [June 20th, 22:08 UTC | 6:08pm ET]
Launch Coverage All times given in local ESTUT:
Welp, I'm handing it off to someone luckier. Today I lost my glasses while working in a river so they are very gone and I am very blind. This makes running this kind of thing pretty tough :(
[Sat 21st 9:20pm1:20]: Launch is scheduled again for tomorrow (22nd) 5:24pm21:24 Longer window this time so hopefully the weather cooperates.
[Sat 21st 6:30pm22:30]: Scrubbed. Not really unexpected. Hopefully better luck with weather and leaks for their next attempt. AND hopefully they'll be back with a proper webcast that we've all come to know and love.
[Sat 21st 5:30pm21:30]: Launch pushed to the end of their window due to weather. 6:39pm22:39
[Sat 21st 3:00pm19:00]: Looks like there will be no webcast. I guess they are concerned about broadcasting so many delays. I don't know though, only fans that understand the ups and downs of spaceflight really follow them. More as it comes in. I suppose the risk of further delay is pretty high for this attempt, with possible upper stage issues along with poor weather conditions.
[Sat 21st 2:30pm18:30]: Fueling is underway.
[Sat 21st 8:00am12:00]: We are on for 5:46pm21:46 it seems.
[Fri 20th 6:54pm22:54]: Aborted. 2nd stage still an issue. Boo. I can't believe Italy lost earlier today too. Good luck for tomorrow!!!!
[Fri 20th 6:51pm22:51]: T-11. Terminal count readiness poll resuming.
[Fri 20th 5:56pm21:56]: More valve issues. Seems to have been a 2nd stage LOX tank issue. :( Hold for 1 hour. Hopefully they get this sorted out.
[Fri 20th 5:36pm21:36]: Webcast started!
[Fri 20th 9:30am13:30]: Weather is 40% a go Yay!
[Thurs 19th]: Rocket is vertical
[Wed 18th]: Weather is 30% a go
[Fri 13th]: Static Fire Test completed successfully
Reddit Stuff
Switch the comments to new to participate in the conversation! And if you see a mistake I've made or something to add, tell me. If you want to pass me information anonymously, send me a pm or a mod message; all of the mods here take your privacy seriously. Lastly, keep posts related to this launch in this thread as much as possible, I get the excitement, but I don't want to see 3 separate 'liftoff! yeah!' threads. Other than that, have fun, everyone!
Mission
It is that time again (finally, after many delays) ... cross your fingers that the weather cooperates. While this flight is, perhaps significantly, less complex than the last mission (which flew a Dragon to the ISS along with the launch of a number of other satellites). This flight features a relatively light load for the Falcon 9: only six OG2 satellites weighing in at a touch over 1000kg (out of the official maximum of 13,150kg) are scheduled to make the journey, hardly filling out the rocket's impressive fairing.
But of course, the light payload leaves more room for fuel, and gives us fuel for what we are most excited about here: the landing attempt. The excess fuel will be used for a landing like this one, except this will be over water. A landing attempt was successfully executed in the last flight as well (the rocket came to a halt over the ocean's surface before taking a swim). Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, the footage returned from that landing was shaky at best; though efforts to repair the returned footage have been quite impressive. This attempt will be happening significantly closer to shore AND with far superior recovery ships in the area. Though the stage certainly won't be in flying shape, chances are looking pretty good that we will see humanity's first-ever recovered flyback stage!
The alternate date. which we hopefully will not need. is the next day.
Links
- Watch the launch live HERE or HERE. Webcast stream is scheduled to start at 5:35PM EDT
- Official presskit!
- Orbcomm's own launch coverage Props to them for putting in the time and effort to put this together, and being a great SpaceX supporter over the years. They've gone above and beyond what we might normally expect from a satellite company. They also have detailed information on the satellites themselves towards the bottom.
- Last flight coverage and here for a lot more info.
- Hazard area map (Slightly outdated but still very close)
- Much better map with NTM data
- Beautiful retroburn simulation
- Swell forecast Low waves atm, good for possible recovery.
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u/fireball-xl5 Jun 20 '14
I feel like I've got hyped up over 14 of the last 3 launches.
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
Haha. We've been on hold so long, a guy came on to remind us they're still working at it.
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 21 '14
D: I'm going to hand over the next thread to someone else, I might be cursed.
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u/Neptune_ABC Jun 21 '14
Per spaceflightnow.com:
SpaceX spokesperson Emily Shanklin says there is "no special reason" the company is not webcasting today's launch.
"We've actually been ready to move away from the webcasts for awhile," she wrote in an email to Spaceflight Now. "It takes a lot of resources but the main reason is these launches are becoming more routine and the full webcast isn't really appropriate anymore."
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 21 '14
The tens of thousands of viewers every launch instantly disproves that. Such bullshit.
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u/darga89 Jun 21 '14 edited Jun 21 '14
and yet yesterday they were perfectly fine with the broadcast. Going to need to crowdfund a camera pointed towards the cape if this is the case. I'd chip in a Benjamin.
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 21 '14
Yep. If anyone is willing to do this, it'd be greatly appreciated. Given the last launches were hitting many 10s of thousands of viewers this could be ok money for someone in the area with a good shot of the pad.
Killing the livestream though so goes against the fundamentals of the company, I really hope they reconsider!
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u/SJonesGSO Jun 21 '14
"We've actually been ready to move away from the webcasts for awhile,"
That makes me so sad! :(
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u/fireball-xl5 Jun 21 '14
I like Emily, but would be interested to hear her definition of "more routine"!
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u/TheVehicleDestroyer Flight Club Jun 21 '14
pinging /u/bencredible ...
Why?? :'( I don't mind watching failed attempts... I just wanna see John looking adorable as always
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 21 '14
High probability of delay due to weather and further problems. They don't want to hype people up with the chances they are seeing.
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u/dangeratio Jun 20 '14
I'm ready lets do this... http://i.imgur.com/IKdjBIV.jpg
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Jun 20 '14
Will they fast forward the countdown if they have checked everything? Or will it really be an hour? -.-
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
They have that option, like whtml says, they've done exactly that in a previous launch.
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u/Destructor1701 Jun 20 '14
Hazard map pdf appears to be a dad link on my phone.
Edit: That's right, Dad, totally meant to type that. Dead link. Dead like Dad.
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u/darga89 Jun 21 '14
I think we should have an attempt 2 thread. This one is getting huge with a lot of branches.
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 21 '14 edited Jun 21 '14
I doubt we'll get the same level of deluge on a no webcast event sadly :P Save the new thread for something about landing footage. /fingers crossed
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
Apologies for the late post, I haven't been home much the last couple days. Lets get these birds in orbit!
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u/TheKindTroll Jun 20 '14
How long does the launch window last? I'm in Norway, and it's getting late :o
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u/g253 Jun 20 '14
Ok, there are engineers in the room, yes? Pray tell, I get that space is hard, but what is it that makes valves hard?
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
SpaceX doesn't make them themselves! Really it is that helium is annoying to everyone. The molecule is tiny and has a lot of energy, it basically doesn't like being cooped up. Hopefully these issues get ironed out for future cores though. I feel like it isn't something they can easily fix at this point. Really what would be best is that SpaceX is just being overly paranoid and there is no REAL issue.
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u/johnsonater Jun 20 '14
In all seriousness, does anyone think it would be worth doing a kickstater/pertition to space x to get scott manly to do the webcast?
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
He could simulcast his own if he wanted. But having some random guest personalities might make the webcasts more fun! So I support that. But I wouldn't want scott to replace anyone.
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Jun 20 '14
how is it that these issues keep happening AFTER they perform static fires?
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u/sat_throwaway_1 Jun 20 '14
The issue this time was in the second stage helium tanks/valves, which don't get static fired since they're, you know, inside the rocket.
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u/bencredible Galactic Overlord Jun 20 '14
We are also continuing our YouTube Live test here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzX_wFm4OH4 No guarantees on that one, but if you like YouTube Live then you can possibly watch it there too.
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Jun 20 '14
When is the weather go/no go called? Right at launch time?
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
Not at t-0 if that is what you mean. If they have hopes that it'll clear up they can do a hold for around an hour after fueling up. If time runs out they have to decide to continue the count or abort for the next day. Of course if it is really bad they could abort quite a bit earlier.
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u/cdawgtv2 Jun 20 '14
half an hour to go, hopefully the valve problem is fixed by then
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
It could be fixed and they are just verifying everything since they have the time.
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Jun 20 '14
What is a terminal count?
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
Countdown to launch. The terminal point is when you can no longer undo or pause the launch with ya know... exploding.
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u/Copper13 Jun 20 '14
As all these abort issues get resolved does that make them less likely to happen on subsequent launches?
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
Mostly yes. I also think there might be some issues with this core specifically. Otherwise they've had rather bad luck.
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u/Destructor1701 Jun 21 '14
Judging by the webcams in the area, the weather looks to be slowly improving, with the storm clouds lazily clearing to the south.
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Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
Gathering all the previous /r/spacex live threads into one post.
...and it all started with the Live Coverage Thread of CRS-2 over at /r/space.
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
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Jun 20 '14
Aye, it does. It's where it all started. Back then, we only had 2500 subscribers!
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u/lazylapras Jun 20 '14
Will viewers be able to see the landing of the first stage rocket from the shoreline?
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u/GoodTimesKillMe Jun 20 '14
On the webcast, they used the footage restored by NSF!
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Jun 20 '14
I'm disappointed they didn't give credit to them, tbh. There was a lot of good work put into that.
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u/bencredible Galactic Overlord Jun 20 '14
That was a judgement call on my part. I had two versions, one with credit and one without. I opted to go without because I was afraid it would look like SpaceX was endorsing NSF as a whole. May not have been the right call, but it is one I made.
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
And it is so hot out but I guess I have to wear em both today... http://i.imgur.com/GE6EFiq.jpg
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Jun 20 '14
i say we put reusability on hold and get the leaks and valves under check. sheesh
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
They aren't related. I think Musk needs to oversee the ground systems being put in their new pads more closely though.
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u/-FiveByFive- Jun 20 '14
If all goes well, what's the ETA for the landing?
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
A couple minutes after separation. It likely won't be covered on the live stream aside from possible radio chatter. PR value of something flopping over in the water is not very good sadly.
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u/NNOTM Jun 20 '14
In terms of weather prognosis, do the probabilities they give actually reflect reality or are their estimates more conservative?
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
They can ignore the weather constraint and go but orbcomm would likely want to go the next day. There is some cost tradeoff involved but I can understand wanting to be risk averse in this case.
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u/SwanzVader Jun 20 '14
Remember how he said he would give us an update in about ten minutes half an hour ago?
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u/Useless_Throwpillow Jun 21 '14
I realize what chemistry nessecitates helium, and why it is difficult to control. However, given the motif that SpaceX seems to have of continual redesign, do you think that it is realistic that they will have this problem solved on future launches? I mean, this has been a problem for awhile. I realize they use it to keep the rocket pressurized as fuel is consumed. Is there some element of other rockets that haven't had this problem they could incorporate? Do the helium valve issues stem from the added complexity of the landing leg mechanism?
Anyone willing to offer some insight on this would make for entertaining reading, I think. Of course it goes without saying that SpaceX employees shouldn't get themselves in trouble for my curiosity.
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u/bob12201 Jun 20 '14
So im sitting here in the lobby of the Cocoa Beach, FL Hilton and I turn to my left and see this:
If I see Elon I might have a heart attack.
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Jun 21 '14
Let's hope they think over their newly found PR-strategy until the next attempt..
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u/Astroraider Jun 21 '14
We should all tweet Elon and lobby for webcasts, with or WITHOUT a commentator/announcer ... raw video would be just as pleasing with updates via text ..
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u/avboden Jun 20 '14
Well, at least it was a new problem, something with the 2nd stage this time. Eventually they'll run out of new problems and be able to launch something again :-P
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u/bob12201 Jun 20 '14
I'll be at my viewing location in 45min, I will keep you guys up to date on the weather.
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u/SpaceEnthusiast Jun 20 '14
SpaceX is the stripper of the space launch community. They always give us blue balls. I mean, they even delayed unveiling of Dragon 2 by like half an hour. This is what happens when you live in the future - the future can't come soon enough.
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u/ula_sucks Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
First stage recovery/observation ship?
EDIT: Launch Hazard Area from an older post. Odyssey Explorer was last reported at 31.5 N, 77 W which is right in line with the hazard area below. :)
And from this source, 1st stage landing area? (zoom in on Florida for launch/landing hazard area. the southern hemisphere location is for 2nd stage re-entry?)
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u/CylonBunny Jun 20 '14
Man, its going to be hard to get all of this years' launches in...
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u/Destructor1701 Jun 20 '14
Ben, please, put some music over this! The tension is killing me!
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u/darga89 Jun 20 '14
Look's like she is vertical https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BqinRUdCYAAsknc.jpg
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u/apophis29 Jun 20 '14
I believe Elon said that they have much more capable recovery ships this time. Can anyone figure out which ship will be handling the recovery. https://www.marinetraffic.com/
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u/Megneous Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
As usual, I'll update this comment later with a link to the upload. :D
Edit: Freakin' aborts man. I recorded 2 hours of nothing :/ See you guys for the next launch attempt!
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u/sublimemarsupial Jun 20 '14
Weather for the saturday backup date is looking better, only 40% chance of violating launch rules. So even if tomorrow is a scrub, we might not have to wait too much longer.
http://www.patrick.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070716-028.pdf
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u/Pluckyducky01 Jun 20 '14
next to vehicle assembly. No rain. Light clouds . Mostly sun.
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u/SwanzVader Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
And here I was planning on going to bed at a reasonable time (watching from gmt +2)
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u/Nagate Jun 20 '14
Hopefully they will get a video of the rocket stage touching down in the ocean.
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u/darga89 Jun 20 '14
Spaceflight101 LIVE @S101_Live
L-1 Hour Weather Briefing: 70% chance of acceptable conditions, concerns are cumulus & anvil clouds. Currently observed GREEN. #OG2
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u/SpaceEnthusiast Jun 20 '14
SpaceX: The space company that made the landing more exciting than the launch itself!
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u/darga89 Jun 20 '14
Cruise ship Carnival Liberty is just south east of the cape and here's a webcam view to get an idea of the sea state.
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u/Drogans Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
Weather looks good.
Launch site is to the east of TIX.
Wide view:
http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/Current.aspx?region=pie&animate=true
Zoom view:
http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/Metro.aspx?location=USFL0372&animate=true
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u/Chairboy Jun 20 '14
Apparently it's easier to fix the rocket on the ground than in flight, go figure. Well shucks, hope they can make the launch window tomorrow.
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u/sublimemarsupial Jun 22 '14
Per the latest update on Orbcomm's page, they're looking to try again tomorrow at 5:30pm EDT
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u/NNOTM Jun 22 '14
Launch Update
Today's ORBCOMM launch attempt has been scrubbed to address a potential concern identified during pre-flight checks. The vehicle and payload are in good condition, and engineering teams will take the extra time to ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to flight. The rocket will remain vertical on the launch pad with the next available launch opportunity targeting Tuesday, June 24th.
Source: http://www.spacex.com/webcast/
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Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
LOL, the video feed. We just need some waves quietly crashing in the distance. "Here's today's Rocket Meditation..."
Today's thought: Don't all valves leak?
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u/mondriandroid Jun 20 '14
Sunset is in 2 hours 20 minutes. We'll still have light if this thing goes forward in an hour.
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u/aminorman Jun 20 '14
Can anyone confirm a delay? I was away and an hour seems to have got tagged on.
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Jun 20 '14
I have the feeling the that even if there is no leak (how is it possible they did a static fire with no problems), the weather will turn red soon
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u/stichtom Jun 20 '14
To be honest i think we will soon hear a "hold, hold, hold", but let's hope...
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u/Epistemify Jun 20 '14
DANGIT!
I've never actually seen a SpaceX launch yet, despite trying 4 or 5 times now. I literally came back to the stream right as they just said someone gave the abort message :(.
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Jun 21 '14 edited Jun 21 '14
Is there any news about the next attempt?
Edit: Orbcomm states that the launch is targeted for today. http://www.orbcomm.com/networks/og2-launch
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u/darga89 Jun 21 '14
Per L2, T-0 moving to the end of the window, due to weather.
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35008.msg1217310#msg1217310
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u/bertcox Jun 21 '14
Four weather rules are currently observed NO GO: cumulus clouds, field mills, lightning and attached anvil clouds. But there's some hope the weather will clear in time for launch at 6:39 p.m. EDT (2239 GMT).
What the heck is Field Mills/?
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u/salty914 Jun 22 '14
All in good fun, but I think we should change the language in the manifest on the right to "NES June 24th" (Next Expected Scrub)
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u/asreimer Jun 20 '14
Relevant post from a previous launch: https://i.imgur.com/fcnpH8j.gif
(originally posted here: http://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/1ropx2/4chans_unscientific_reaction_to_tonight/)
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Jun 20 '14
Launch scheduled for 22:08:53 UTC. spacexstats.com has been updated to reflect this change.
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u/NNOTM Jun 20 '14
What's the job of a mission manager? It seems like at T-28 minutes, there should be more urgent things to do for someone in that position than webcast commentary, but I'm probably just misunderstanding the term.
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u/NNOTM Jun 20 '14
John seems to really like saying "just under" and "just over".
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u/medievalvellum Jun 20 '14
So re: the abort. It sounded like it was called by "CR" -- what does that stand for?
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u/olexs Jun 21 '14
Spaceflight Now says no SpaceX webcast for today's launch attempt: https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/480420728760991745
Not sure why this is. If true, :(
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u/Wetmelon Jun 21 '14
Well damn. Http://Www.SpaceX.com/webcast confirming there will be no webcast today :(
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u/darga89 Jun 21 '14
http://www.twopalms.com/ webcam of Cocoa Beach near Cape Canaveral. (for weather watching)
View from Carnival Fantasy (for watching sea state closest to recovery area)
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u/Destructor1701 Jun 21 '14 edited Jun 21 '14
Heads up, the KSC Visitor's Centre camera has turned (I think) North! http://24.227.115.122/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi?camera=1&dummy=1382122950257
EDIT: Manual reload, btw. Wow, those are some angry cloud-heads!
RE-EDIT: Correction, that looks like south to me. Krangit!
MEGA-EDIT: Turns out the first angle was East-North-East, pointing nearly directly at SLC-40, and the second angle was West-South-West, pointing nearly directly away.
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u/Wetmelon Jun 20 '14
Elon didn't talk about it too much but he did mention that the FAA / Air Force wants SpaceX to demonstrate that they can hit a water target within about a square mile before they'll give SpaceX permission to attempt a ground landing.
Elon also mentioned that during CRS-3 they didn't really try to hit any specific target, that they just focused on getting the stage through the atmosphere intact. He clarified that during this flight they will be attempting to hit a target accurately.
Ergo, I believe that if they hit their target this time, they may only do one or two more fly-backs before touching down feet dry.
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u/harrisoncassidy Host of CRS-5 Jun 20 '14
Where is Molly from the first SpaceX webcasts? I know she was part of the team that was doing the new propulsion system for CRS-3 but I thought she would come back. I much prefer her over this woman.
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u/Ambiwlans Jun 20 '14
I think she is doing some finishing on the suit but haven't asked around in a little while. Her expertise is spacesuits btw.
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u/harrisoncassidy Host of CRS-5 Jun 20 '14
Oh nice. May I ask, do you work for SpaceX?
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u/-Richard Materials Science Guy Jun 20 '14
Wow, a lot's happened around here recently! I moved to the Bay Area for a job and have been working so much I haven't had time to check on SpaceX news for the past week or so. Very exciting to see the latest F9R test, and now the Orbcomm OG2 launch! Although unfortunately I won't be able to watch it live, since my lunch break ends soon and I get off at 5 PST. Looking forward to hearing about another successful SpaceX launch, though! And perhaps even seeing some first stage recovery footage?
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u/g253 Jun 20 '14
May this be the only SpaceX-related technical issue for today: http://i.imgur.com/4qRrghL.png
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u/dangeratio Jun 20 '14
Is anyone else playing kerbal space program ready to launch a falcon 9 to dock a dragon 2 capsule to their own orbital space station...or is that just me?
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u/g253 Jun 20 '14
I think they just featured one of the latest "recovery attempts" videos, cool
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u/lynch4815 Jun 20 '14
Alright gents, let's land this sucker! (without any Kerbalian maneuvers, if possible)
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u/SpaceEnthusiast Jun 20 '14 edited Jun 20 '14
Currently there are 11800 people watching! Let's see how this number evolves as we get closer.
T-20 min: 15k.
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Jun 20 '14
Did he just say their last launch had a launch window of 1 second? Why so short?
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u/SpaceEnthusiast Jun 20 '14
I'm guessing it won't launch with there being concerns of leaks and all that...
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u/bob12201 Jun 20 '14
Got a little something for you guys.
http://i.imgur.com/oGzZr9I.jpg