[NormsRevenge]

the lightning makes the fueling guy nervous.
—
I’m with him. :-)

Hope this one hits its mark ..Thanks!

[RightWhale]

spaceflightnow.com

BY JUSTIN RAY

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2007
1630 GMT (12:30 p.m. EDT)

Filling of the Delta 2 rocket’s second stage with storable fuel is being completed at pad 17B today as preparations proceed for the Thursday’s sunrise liftoff on NASA’s Dawn asteroid orbiter.

Crews pumped nitrogen tetroxide into the stage on Sunday, but inclement weather precluded the technicians from beginning the Aerozine 50 fuel loading. That hydrazine propellant is being placed aboard the rocket today.

The storable hypergolic fuels power the second stage’s Aerojet AJ118-K engine. The stage fires twice during the launch to boost Dawn toward its Earth departure trajectory.

Thursday’s launch window will extend from 7:20 to 7:49 a.m. EDT. The weather outlook for the launch opportunity predicts a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions.

Mission managers will gather Tuesday morning for the Launch Readiness Review to assess the progress of pre-flight preparations and any lingering technical issues. If all aspects are deemed “go” for launch, the meeting will conclude with officials giving approval to enter into the countdown on Wednesday night.

---

nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine sounds bad, must be rocket fuel

[RightWhale]

No new news Tuesday so far.

The Russian student tether experiment was partly successful and partly not. Some unexplained friction stopped deployment early, about 3 miles of 20.