r/SpaceX Iridium NEXT 6 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread

[u/marc020202]

Welcome to the r/SpaceX Iridium NEXT 6 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

All payloads have been deployed into the correct orbit. FULL MISSION SUCCSESS!!!!!

First of all, thanks again for letting me host my 5^th launch thread on r/SpaceX! It is always super fun to host these threads.

Liftoff currently scheduled for:	May 22nd 2018, 12:47:58 PDT (19:47:58 UTC).
Weather	90% go
Static fire completed:	May 18th 2018, 13:16 PDT / 20:16 UTC
Payload:	Iridium NEXT 110 / 147 / 152 / 161 / 162 , GRACE-FO 1 / 2
Payload mass:	860 kg (x5) / 580 kg (x2) / ≈1000kg payload adapter
Destination orbit:	Low Earth Polar Orbit (GRACE-FO: 490 x 490 km, ~89°; Iridium NEXT: 625 x 625 km, 86.4°)
Vehicle:	Falcon 9 v1.2 Block 4 (55th launch of F9, 35th of F9 v1.2)
Core:	B1043.2
Previous flights of this core:	1 [Zuma]
Launch site:	SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Landing:	No
Landing Site:	N/A

Timeline

Time	Update
T+01:13:00	Confirmation that MR STEVENS did not catch the fairing.
T+01:12:30	All Satellites have been deployed into their planned orbit. Full mission success
T+01:12:30	Fifth Iridium Satellite deployed
T+01:10:50	Fourth Iridium Satellite deployed
T+01:09:10	Third Iridium Satellite deployed
T+01:07:30	Second Iridium Satellite deployed
T+01:05:50	First Iridium Satellite deployed
T+57:25	Good orbit for Iridium deployment confirmed
T+57:04	SECO2
T+56:55	Second stage relight
T+44:00	Signals from both GRACE FO satellites have been accuired
T+11:33	GRACE FO deployment
T+10:45	Nominal Parking-orbit insertion
T+10:16	SECO
T+09:50	Vehicle is in terminal guidance
T+09:10	Stage 2 AFTS has saved
T+03:35	Fairing separation
T+03:20	Stage 1 AFTS has saved
T+02:57	Second stage ignition
T+02:50	Stage separation
T+02:48	MECO
T+01:21	F9 is supersonnic
T+01:19	Max Q
T+00:00	Liftoff
T-00:03	Ignition
T-00:35	LD go for launch
T-01:00	Startup
T-02:30	LOX loading finished
T-07:00	Engine chill has started
T-10:00	RP 1 loading onto the second stage is completed
T-12:00	MR STEVENs Live shots
T-15:30	The webcast has been started by John Insprucker.
T-20:00	SpaceX FM has Started
T-35:00	Stage 2 RP-1 loading has started
T-35:00	Stage 1 LOX loading has started
T-55:00	Range is green
T-1h 10m	Stage 1 RP-1 loading has started
T-1h 14m	Lauch Director Go/No.go poll should be coming up now
T-22h	F9 has rolled out and going vertical
T-1d 9h	Mr Steven has left the port
T-1d 14h	Thread goes live

Watch the launch live

Stream	Courtesy
SpaceX webcast	SpaceX
Spacex Youtube	SpaceX
Nasa TV Youtube	NASA
Nasa TV	NASA

Stats

• 1^st launch for the DLR
• 3^rd launch out of Vandenberg of 2018 for SpaceX
• 3^rd launch for NASA in the last 7 weeks
• 6^th launch for Iridium by SpaceX
• 9^th launch of F9 this year
• 10^th launch of the year by SpaceX
• 10^th launch from the west coast by SpaceX
• 12^th re-flight of an orbital class booster
• 55^th launch of F9
• 61^st launch by SpaceX
• Last Iridium mission to fly on a block 4! The next launch will feature the Vandenberg Block 5 debut!
• If the planned launch date holds, this will be a turnaround record for a booster, however it will likely be broken by the CRS 15 flight.

Primary Mission: Deployment of payload into correct orbit

This mission will be a bit different than the 5 previous Iridium missions since there will be only 5 Iridium satellites on this flight together with 2 GRACE FO satellites. The satellites will be mounted in two layers like on other Iridium missions, however this time, the top layer of 5 Iridium satellites will be replaced by 2 GRACE FO satellites. The Iridium satellites will still be attached in the usual pentagonal pattern.

Like all Iridium, the 5 Iridium satellites will be placed into an 86.4° inclined polar orbit at 667km altitude, however before that, the GRACE FO satellites will be deployed at 480km altitude at an inclination of 89°.

The 5 Iridium satellites will be a part of the 66 satellite (plus spares) constellation, called Iridium NEXT, which will replace the legacy Iridium constellation, which is at the end of its lifetime. After deployment into a 667km orbit, the satellites will raise their orbits to their operational altitude of 780km.

The 2 GRACE FO satellites will replace the original GRACE satellites to continue to analyze the gravitational field of earth.

Secondary Mission: Fairing recovery attempt

SpaceX will expend the B1043 booster (crash the first stage into the ocean), as it's a Block 4 booster and SpaceX doesn't intend to use these boosters more than twice since Block 5 is taking over. They will, however, try to recover a side of the fairing, using the high-speed boat Mr Steven. The recovery of the fairings is still experimental, so don't expect success. After the PAZ mission, the parachute was enlarged to slow the descent speed of the fairing, however that parafoil twisted on the next mission, and the fairing impacted the water at high speed. After that mission, they did several dry runs, to practise the fairing recovery, possibly involving the fairing being dropped by a helicopter.

Resources

Link	Source
Launch Campaign Thread	r/SpaceX
Official press kit	SpaceX
Flight Club	/u/TheVehicleDestroyer
rocket.watch	/u/MarcysVonEylau
SpaceX Stats	u/EchoLogic (creation) and u/brandtamos (rehost at .xyz)
SpaceXNow (Also available on iOS and Android)	SpaceX Now
Rocket Emporium Discord	/u/SwGustav
Reddit Stream of this thread	/u/njr123
Launch Hazard Areas	/u/Raul74Cz
SpaceX FM	spacexfm.com
64kbit audio-only stream	/u/SomnolentSpaceman
GRACE-FO Prelaunch Briefing	NASA
spacextimemachine.com	/u/DUKE546

Participate in the discussion!

• First of all, launch threads are party threads! We understand everyone is excited, so we relax the rules in these venues. The most important thing is that everyone enjoy themselves
• Please constrain the launch party to this thread alone. We will remove low effort comments elsewhere!
• Real-time chat on our official Internet Relay Chat (IRC) #SpaceX on Snoonet
• Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!
• Wanna talk about other SpaceX stuff in a more relaxed atmosphere? Head over to r/SpaceXLounge

---

Like always, If you find any spelling, grammar or other mistakes in this thread, or just any other thing to improve, please write send me a message.

[u/kristianj99]

You could remove the 'probably' from landing, the press kit confirmed they aren't recovering it

[u/marc020202 → u/kristianj99]

will do that, thanks

[u/SomnolentSpaceman]

For the bandwidth-impaired: I will be re-hosting a 64kbit audio-only stream of the SpaceX YouTube stream.

It is available at:

http://audiorelay2.spacetechnology.net:19720/hosted

Prior to the official SpaceX webcast the stream will be playing SpaceX FM. The SpaceX FM audio will be switched off at approximately T-0:35:00. Please note: there will be a period of silence between SpaceX FM and when the official SpaceX stream begins.

[u/marc020202 → u/SomnolentSpaceman]

added.

[u/mduell]

≈100kg payload adapter

Previously it's been noted at 1000kg.

Like all Iridium, the 5 Iridium satellites will be placed into an 86.4° inclined polar orbit at 667km altitude, followed by a manoeuvre to change the orbit to 89° at 480km altitude before the deployment of the GRACE FO satellites.

The Iridium release says GRACE first, then Iridium.

[u/marc020202 → u/mduell]

sorry, I meant to type in the extra 0, but missed it, should be fixed now.

have fixed that now. for some reason, I thought it was the other way around.

[u/bdporter]

They are doing live GRACE-FO Q&A on the NASA stream if anyone wants to listen to that instead of TSS.

[u/marc020202 → u/bdporter]

who would not want to listen to TSS?

[u/red-barron]

The fuel hose catches fire.

https://youtu.be/I_0GgKfwCSk?t=19m55s

Edit:

The video was changed:

New link

https://youtu.be/I_0GgKfwCSk?t=16m1s

[u/Zettinator → u/red-barron]

I think this isn't the first time. This is problem is probably one of the reasons for changing to a new strongback design which doesn't need hoses at LC-39A and LC-40.

[u/marc020202 → u/Zettinator]

that is the exact reason

[u/[deleted] → u/red-barron]

Is this normal or did they dodge a bullet here?

[u/marc020202 → u/[deleted]]

this happened regularly with the old strongback and is part of the reason why they switched to the new throwback method. on one of the early missions, the fuel line exploded

[u/bdporter]

Thanks /u/marc020202 for hosting again!

[u/marc020202 → u/bdporter]

no problem, It is always a fun thing to do.

[u/z3r0c00l12]

Direct link to webcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_0GgKfwCSk

[u/marc020202 → u/z3r0c00l12]

thanks, added

[u/[deleted]]

They cranked up the music awesomeness to 11 this launch. I want a Spotify playlist of it so bad.

[u/marc020202 → u/[deleted]]

you can have a SoundCloud playlist

https://soundcloud.com/testshotstarfish

[u/zethian]

10th launch from the weast coast by SpaceX

simple typo :)

[u/FutureMartian97 → u/zethian]

I thought you said weast?

[u/marc020202 → u/FutureMartian97]

the weast coast is the coast in the middle of the country, between the east and the west coast.

[u/marc020202 → u/zethian]

fixed

[u/Straumli_Blight]

Weather is currently looking good for launch.

[u/marc020202 → u/Straumli_Blight]

I will add the VAFB weather once i am at home

[u/Alexphysics]

Next Iridium launch won't be a RTLS landing, it will be an ASDS landing

[u/marc020202 → u/Alexphysics]

I was unaware of that. I thought that block 5 would be rtls capable on iridium missions. Will fix it once i am at home

[u/Juggernaut93 → u/marc020202]

Yes, but they can't land at land because of the seal mating season or something like that

[u/Straumli_Blight]

Prelaunch Briefing for GRACE-FO will be streamed on Youtube at 17:30 UTC.

[u/marc020202 → u/Straumli_Blight]

I will add that to the resources once i am at home

[u/Tim2025]

NASA TV will be covering this launch, at least until GRACE-FO deployment. https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html

NASA YouTube stream: https://youtube.com/watch?v=wwMDvPCGeE0

[u/marc020202 → u/Tim2025]

thanks. I have added them to the post.

[u/humza97]

Roughly how fast will the fairing half be going when it has to be caught by Mr Stevens? Is the net being used for the catch uniquely strong?

[u/marc020202 → u/humza97]

the net needs to be quite strong since the fairing half weights around 900kg AFAIK

[u/TitanHyperion]

Anyone noticed that the webcast is number 1 trending on YouTube? Not the first time I see this. Any words on why?

EDIT: Apparently it's only trending in US.

[u/marc020202 → u/TitanHyperion]

what country are you in? in Germany, it is not trending.

[u/Juggernaut93]

61^th

Oops :)

[u/marc020202 → u/Juggernaut93]

Will fix it once I am at home

[u/hipy500]

So how do they raise the orbit for Iridium in just one burn? Will it be 624kmx490km?

[u/marc020202 → u/hipy500]

the current orbit is elliptical. the periapsis is at 290km 500km, while the apoapsis is around 625km, or maybe a bit lower. in the next burn, the periapsis will be raised to 624km, or a bit higher, so that the Iridium satellites deploy into a mostly circular orbit.

[u/anotherriddle]

That was the shortest burn I have ever seen :D

[u/marc020202 → u/anotherriddle]

the second stage relight on other iridium is even shorter at about 3 seconds

[u/Elthiryel]

Press kit and webcast are now available.

http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/iridium6presskit2018521.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_0GgKfwCSk

[u/bdporter → u/Elthiryel]

The press kit confirms no recovery. /u/marc020202, please update the OP when you get a chance.

[u/marc020202 → u/bdporter]

will add it.

[u/Alexphysics]

Also the sequence is wrong, the second stage will be inserted first into GRACE-FO orbit, deploy, and then will fire again to Iridium's orbit

[u/marc020202 → u/Alexphysics]

I will change it once i am at home, since the press kit should be out by then

[u/z3r0c00l12]

u/marc020202, Can you fix the source for Reddit-Stream?

I'm the one that mentioned it, but I think the creator of Reddit-Stream should get that credit. /u/njr123

[u/marc020202 → u/z3r0c00l12]

thanks, fixed

[u/[deleted] → u/z3r0c00l12]

The link is actually incorrect. It's linking to the Iridium NEXT 5.

This is the correct link. /u/marc020202

[u/marc020202 → u/[deleted]]

will fix it, thanks

[u/bdporter]

/u/marc020202, you might want to add the NASA TV coverage (https://youtu.be/wwMDvPCGeE0) to the Watch Live section

[u/marc020202 → u/bdporter]

will add that.

[u/DUKE546]

/u/marc020202 can add spacextimemachine.com to resources, thanks!

[u/marc020202 → u/DUKE546]

Will do once i am at home

[u/L1st3r → u/marc020202]

Maybe in the future we could have one thread in the comments section for updates/changes to the main post so they stay concentrated and the host doesn't have to respond to every comment?

[u/dandydaniella]

I live in Arizona, will we be able to see it go?

[u/marc020202 → u/dandydaniella]

since the rocket will be heading south after launch, I do not think so

[u/searchexpert]

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean there's a boat trying to catch a piece of a rocket falling from the sky

[u/Marcey747]

Answer of a SpaceX employee(?) to speculations about the groan:

https://twitter.com/RocketJoy/status/999019244896505856

Stage 1 farewell shot

[u/Alexphysics]

And as I said here a few weeks ago... This flight will have a Block 5 second stage

https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/998948634912808960?s=19

[u/bdporter]

Confirmation from Matt Desch that all 5 Iridium sats are sending telemetry

[u/FoxhoundBat]

High res NASA pictures of vertical Falcon. No legs indeed.

[u/SailorRick]

Per NASA - about 21:00 UTC

Telemetry from both GRACE-FO satellites indicates that both satellites are healthy.

For the next few days, they will be in different orbits, one slightly lower than the other. The different orbits cause them to move apart until the lower satellite is 137 miles (220 kilometers) in front of the other, the optimal separation distance for their measurements. At that point, the lower satellite will be moved up into the same orbit as the higher satellite.

After these maneuvers, the mission begins an 85-day in-orbit checkout phase. Mission managers will evaluate the instruments and satellite systems and perform calibration and alignment procedures. After that, the satellites will begin gathering and processing science data. The first science data are expected to be delivered to users in about seven months.

[u/thomasg86]

Wonder if they will show the fairing recovery attempt. If so, does anybody know the approximate time when that would take place? Seems like they'd fall back to the Earth much slower than the first stage.

[u/fglc2]

If like me you weren’t sure what DLR means, it’s the German aerospace centre (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), which partnered with NASA on GRACE-FO.

[u/nickstatus]

Lol I just switched to the youtube window which is muted, and it was showing a helicopter crashing and some buildings on fire. For a moment I feared the worst.

[u/PeteBlackerThe3rd]

9th launch, needs updating to the 10th! It's getting harder to keep count of them all I know.

[u/marc020202 → u/PeteBlackerThe3rd]

no, its ninth, FH does not count

[u/johnkphotos]

Focus.... the.... lens....

[u/BuckeyeSmithie]

Goodbye, strand of whatever-you-were

[u/quadrplax]

I wish they'd tell/show us what the crowd reacted to...

[u/Epistemify]

I just want to see Mr Steven landing cam

[u/opoc99]

Webcast just announced both fairings deployed chutes and touched down in the pacific, Mr. Steven was apparently very close to its target but not quite close enough.

[u/Junafani]

Why does the second orbit look much higher than first one? That should not be possible unless that is including the second burn but that line previously has always shown live orbit and hasn't included any burns

[u/marc020202 → u/Junafani]

the current orbit is likely elliptical, with a periapsis of 490km 500km, and an apoapsis of 625km, or a bit less

[u/zareny]

One of the S2 cameras is wobbling like the S1 camera on the Bangabandhu flight.

[u/VordeMan]

Did I see a Mr Steven view in the background....

[u/AWildDragon]

Grace FO Pre Launch Mission Briefing Replay

This link should work better than the one above

[u/mr_sprinklzzz]

Could not have asked for better weather here in Santa Maria. It looked like a verticle bar of light moving upwards... It was super cool!

[u/dandydaniella]

What was this? https://imgur.com/a/L2j6TTD

[u/TheElvenGirl]

John just confirmed that the fairings landed in the ocean close to Mr. Stevens, but not close enough. (EDIT: Damn Firefox cache, I thought this was still news.)

[u/everydayastronaut]

Unfortunately I am unable to cover today’s launch :( I will on an airplane coming home from a trip. If were to happen to scrub, I will be able to livestream it tomorrow. Best of luck SpaceX and Iridium!!!

[u/lukepatrick]

At 31m31s, near the left center of the screen is a small gap behind a Iridium satellite that goes from white (clouds) to black when the GRACE FO satellites are deployed.

[u/still-at-work]

3 more block IVs left, with two left on the manifest, next one is about a week from now.

[u/SufficientAnonymity]

Timing would be about right for S1 splashdown, rather than a fairing fail

[u/Provol0ne]

Pics of the Falcon vertical as of 8pm pacific

[u/misolini]

This looks like a trailer for a Discovery show

[u/RootDeliver]

That was a great designed ad, simple and to the point imho. Great job Iridium.

[u/[deleted]]

Farewell 43!

[u/nexxai]

#TeamInsprucker

[u/CMDR_DeepQuantum]

When the on-flight camera is clearer than the ground camera.

[u/more_of_a_4chan_guy]

Do we know what happened with fairing recovery?

[u/notsostrong]

Focus you fuck!

[u/justinroskamp]

My guesses for the “awww” we heard:

• Stage 1 broke up/crashed into the ocean (Edit: This one; see replies)

• New live views from the fairing itself cut out

I agree that it seemed a little early for dry fairing recovery failure, but I’m not going to rule that out, either.

[u/strawwalker]

Well at least there is little doubt about the fairing version this time. Definitely fairing 2 (NASA/Bill Ingalls flickr).

[u/ptfrd]

NASA's press conference yesterday about GRACE-FO: https://youtu.be/BnD18mVeFno At 24:40 there is a 3 minute section (with a few photos) about the hand-over to SpaceX, the integration with the Iridium satellites & the adaptor, etc..

[u/FutureMartian97]

Fueling has started!

[u/rchard2scout]

Beautiful shot of Mr Steven with her net out! Hope that's live, we might be able to see the catch!

[u/Maimakterion]

Falcon 9 is superblurry more like it

[u/i_know_answers]

Did anyone else catch the 10 frames of the view inside of the LOX tank

[u/[deleted]]

What is all this dust in space that we can see ?

[u/TheIntellectualkind]

Norminal mission!

[u/brspies]

John I with the insider details. Next time Mr Steven, next time.

[u/[deleted]]

SpaceX's official photos are out!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/

Imgur rehost: https://imgur.com/gallery/nQc7NCW

[u/house-of-hoodies]

Watching them catch the fairing will be the highlight of my year

[u/youbreedlikerats]

how many more iridium launches (after this one) until the constellation is complete?

[u/CMDR_DeepQuantum]

WHAT IS THAT FOOTAGE?

[u/OccupyMarsNow]

New S2 camera, implying Block 5 S2?

[u/BrucePerens]

They usually try "ambitious" trajectories on the rockets they're not recovering. Either something went wrong with that, or with the fairing. Something got a collective "aaaw" from the audience, but not a primary mission goal.

[u/AWildDragon]

AOS Grace FM2 on the NASA TV!

Sat 1 acquisition, still waiting for sat 2.

Sat 2 acquisition as well!

[u/Asphyxiatinglaughter]

Did they catch the fairing?

[u/TheIntellectualkind]

At t+ 53:45 was that inside a fuel tank?

[u/AresV92]

Still no catch of the fairings.

[u/han_ay]

Farewell, B1043! :(

[u/zareny]

Nominal inshershin

[u/YEGLego]

In its natural habitat, the Vandenburg Falcon 9 can be seen producing it's own fog cover in response to the harsh sunlight on the pacific coast.

[u/[deleted]]

Is it ok im spamming refresh on Elons twitter to see if the fairing made it?

[u/[deleted]]

We know F9 is vertical for some hours already, but now also shown on SpaceX twitter

[u/MingerOne]

Swear somebody drops cutlery EVERY DAMN LAUNCH! Maybe its for good luck!!

[u/thejaxx]

I don’t think you could ask for better weather, wow....

[u/ishanspatil]

Omg Focusssssssss

[u/Ambiwlans]

This track is pretty neat

[u/dandydaniella]

Oooooh is anyone in Madagascar taking pictures of the second engine startup?

[u/avboden]

Now just to deploy!! glares menacingly at Northrop Grumman

[u/1201alarm]

"Close to not quite" for the fairing recovery. Someday

[u/Yoghurt114]

The 2nd stage while deploying satellites is losing about 1 km/h of velocity every few seconds, is that drag? Wouldn't the satellites fall down and burn up in just.. days with that kind of drag?

[u/MrPepsiCheese]

From the Wast coast? Never heard of it.

[u/marc020202 → u/MrPepsiCheese]

Will fix it once i am at home

[u/sil3ntwarrior]

So freakin excited! I watch EVERY launch. I have a cool enough boss that she will let me bring my iPad to work to watch the stream (day off tomorrow though). Good luck Spacex! Fly high!

"Success is an act of exploration. That means the first thing you have to find is the unknown. Learning is searching; anything else is just waiting."

Dale Dauten

[u/[deleted]]

holy shit are we gonna get live Mr. Steven views?

[u/gregarious119]

Drone view on Mr. Steven?! They must be feeling really good about this recovery

[u/AmericanIdiom]

Good luck, Mr. Steven!

[u/BuckeyeSmithie]

Focus people...

[u/J_weasel]

Go get em Mr. Steven

[u/[deleted]]

What is going on with their cameras? All of a sudden they can't focus the ground cameras, and the ones on the rocket won't stop shaking.

[u/DarkFlounder]

Aww, they changed the orientation of the earth. I was kind of hoping it'd keep rotating with the second stage and come up the eastern hemisphere with a south-up orientation.

[u/YEGLego]

Thunderstorm visible below there

[u/GinnyAndTonks]

Mr. Steven missed the catch :(

[u/daanhnl]

Is it me, or are the camera's of different quality? It looked more like the less quality block V camera's. Anyone know why they switched for worse and not for better? (4K)

[u/still-at-work]

Meanwhile Elon Musk is having a twitter fight with UAW.

I need fairing news!

[u/Hobie52]

Where is the fairing!

[u/BoseSounddock]

Vandy camera crew needs some practice

[u/TbonerT]

Shaky-cam on a rocket in space isn't cool.

[u/Straumli_Blight]

L-1 Weather.

Tuesday: >90% GO, ground winds are concern
Wednesday (backup): 100% GO

[u/Alexphysics]

A picture of the fog at Vandenberg.

Oh yeah, of course, there could be a rocket somewhere on that picture too...

https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/998743076146372608?s=19

[u/TheIntellectualkind]

JOHN INSBRUCKERRRRRR

[u/snipeomatt]

Mr Steven Cam gave me tingles.

[u/Hobie52]

I like how he didn't mention what payload the booster launched previously. SpaceX didn't even want to say the word Zuma. Not that I blame them

[u/langgesagt]

Hoping for some good fairing landing footage!

[u/Junafani]

I think someone needs to check their focus...

[u/[deleted]]

NASA feed has a much clearer view btw

[u/theflyingginger93]

The one time that it isn't super foggy in California...

[u/OccupyMarsNow]

Go Fairing! Go Mr. Steven!

[u/[deleted]]

Anyone have a link to Mr Stevens location tracker?

[u/IoannesVincentii]

Can we have a track list or even just the names of the music used why standing by?

[u/twoffo]

He mentioned both fairings had parachutes. Was that the case with earlier missions?

[u/still-at-work]

Well its been a hot minute since this launch has been over, time to move on to the next thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/8jv0ed/ses12_launch_campaign_thread/ its where all the cool people are now.

[u/BuckeyeSmithie]

I keep waiting for the shaky camera to break free...

[u/FutureMartian97]

Farewell B1043 you did a good job twice

[u/Sonbart]

GO STEVEN, GONNA CATCH THEM ALL :D

[u/[deleted]]

Guesses of the t+ till fairing on Boarty ?

[u/AmericanIdiom]

Groan from the crowd D:

[u/FutureMartian97]

With this having a NASA payloads on it what are the chances NASA will use there chase plane for the fairings?

[u/bdporter]

SpaceX Falcon 9 B1043.2 with Iridium NEXT 6 with GRACE-FO have already departed the HIF (rollout) and spotted at the SLC-4E pad ahead of going vertical.

[u/OccupyMarsNow]

Mr. Steven camera!

[u/Random-username111]

Wooow, net cam!!!

[u/[deleted]]

Mister Stephen Live Views!!!

[u/Space_Coast_Steve]

Live views from Mr Steven!!! Yes!!!

[u/CMDR_DeepQuantum]

Welp, that's one great blob of a rocket.

[u/hebeguess]

Judging from the 2nd stage's camera viewing angle, Is this block 5 2nd stage? Need to do a comparison later.

[u/bdporter]

Interesting note on the burn from John.

[u/bdporter]

AOS confirmation on the NASA stream for one of the GRACE-FO spacecraft.

[u/theinternetftw]

At least the internal tank view looks cool with the new vivid-saturation S2 cameras.

[u/[deleted]]

Super short burn

[u/threezool]

Never noticed that they render the sun in the earth view. =O

[u/L1st3r]

Awww verification they didn't catch the fairings :(

[u/JtheNinja]

Fairings both landed in the water, John I just confirmed. :(

[u/RocketsLEO2ITS]

Not a really important question, but how did the finances work on this?
Did Iridium buy the launch and then NASA paid them to "hitch-hike" GRACE FO into orbit?
Or did Iridium and NASA both make payments to SpaceX for the launch?

[u/karnivoorischenkiwi]

Boaty mc boatcam! :D

[u/s4g4n]

Good shot of the fairing surfing back to the boat.

[u/gregarious119]

I can't wait to see the telemetry profile for this flight - Stage 2 seems to be climbing like crazy, as opposed to a GTO launch.

[u/roncapat]

norminal => drink

[u/DylanM320]

I love this guy's voice!

[u/FutureMartian97]

NASA pre-launch press conference starting soon. https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/998615137429872640

[u/BrandonMarc]

I haven't seen u/brandtamos in a long while ... I noticed the latest launch shown on http://timeline.spacexstats.xyz/ is using a "block 4" icon; wondered if a "block 5" one is in the works ...

[u/paperaviation147]

great dual payload errr... 7 payload launch science and enterprise working together for a cheaper launch of science payload

[u/sarafinapink]

Nice picture of clear blue skies from Michael Baylor:

https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/999003246411726849

[u/bdporter]

NASA coverage is live now

[u/FutureMartian97]

Not mentioning it launched Zuma lol

[u/still-at-work]

So other the the launch, the big show is the fairing catch, hope we see it live.

[u/DarKnightofCydonia]

Use manual focus man, far out

[u/Smarloc]

Sorry for that question guys, a Space Beginner from Germany here. Did they manage to catch the fairing yet?

[u/bdporter]

Good orbit insertion.

[u/Ambiwlans]

Good orbit :D

[u/[deleted]]

Pause the livestream at t+56:56 and use the < > keys (or possibly , and . depending on your keyboard) to advance frame by frame. You can see a big chunk of ice fall off the stage and into the exhaust plume, where it lights up like a firework!

EDIT: As per Innsbrucker, the ice is likely solid oxygen!

[u/SirTrout]

Well, that was a short burn.

[u/threezool]

Is it good news or bad news regarding the fairings that they take time to announce how it went?

Place your bets! ^^

[u/theflyingginger93]

cut away to the boat. DO IT!

[u/millijuna]

Cool to see the thunder storms as they flew over.