Posted on 11/15/2022 6:08:59 PM PST by BenLurkin
Mission UpdatesFeed Upper Stage Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen in Fast Fill Teams are in fast fill operations for the interim cryogenic propulsion stage’s (ICPS) liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks. The ICPS is the upper stage of the Space Launch System rocket responsible for giving the Orion spacecraft the big push it needs in space to head toward the Moon. Teams continue to work toward a …
44 minutes ago
(Excerpt) Read more at nasa.gov ...
Artemis 1 live stream: Live coverage of moon rocket launch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KT78q60aVs
It goes up in 3 1/2 hours if all is well.
"Goes up" could indeed be what it does. The billions spent on it have already "gone up" with each delay. "Monitoring intermittent LH2 Leak, Core Stage Replenish Valve".
“Launch” certainly appears to be the operative word of the night in Florida.
Let’s light this candle.
I don’t envy this service crew, out there torqueing some bolts, while the safety crew stands off some distance, on the ground, for a really good view of the service crew if they happen to set off a fire or explosion.
There, they said it, could push out the launch window.
Hope it’s successful, I love night launches. For that matter, a night explosion wouldn’t be bad, either. Either way, watch for flying dollar signs!
The “Red Team” 2 Workers/1 Safety are currently tightening up some bolts for the LH2 fill line on the Mobile Launcher to try to stop a leak.
Setting it up for the cackler.
They are now fixing another leak...
1:46 to go...
Sounds extremely dangerous.
“Sounds dangerous.”
“It is.”
“Count me in.”
Sounds like they are tightening the nuts and then running the valve to see if the torque is working.
Dumb Question: Don’t they know what the correct torque is on the nuts and don’t they have torque wrenches?
While the astronauts were en route to the pad, three men were working on a hydrogen leak on the Saturn V.
Launch control narration:
"This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control; T minus 2 hours, 40 minutes, 40 seconds and counting. At this time, the prime crew for Apollo 11 has boarded the high-speed elevator from inside the A level of the mobile launcher which is the second level inside the launcher. This is the high-speed elevator; 600 feet [180 metres] per minute, which will carry them to the 320-foot [98-metre] level, the spacecraft level. Shortly, we'll expect astronauts Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins to come across Swing Arm 9, the Apollo access arm, and proceed to the White Room and stand by to board the spacecraft. The third member of the crew, astronaut Edwin Aldrin, will be the last one to board the spacecraft, will stand by in the elevator seated in a chair while his two comrades first board the spacecraft. Once Armstrong, who sits in the left-hand seat, and Collins, who will sit in the right-hand seat during lift-off are aboard, then Aldrin will be called and he will take his seat, the middle seat in the spacecraft. The spacecraft commander Neil Armstrong and the Command Module Pilot Michael Collins now proceeding across the swing arm into the small White Room that attaches at the spacecraft level. In the meantime, about 100 feet [30 metres] below, we have a technician - a team of technicians working on a leaking valve which is a part of the Ground Support Equipment, a part of the system that's used to replenish the fuel supply for the third stage of the Saturn V rocket. He is proceeding to tighten a series of bolts around this valve in the hope that this will correct the leak. Once the technicians do depart, the hydrogen will again be flowed through the system to assure that the leak has been corrected. The spacecraft Commander Neil Armstrong and CMP, the Command Module Pilot Mike Collins, now standing by in the White Room. T minus 2 hours, 38 minutes, 45 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control."
Leak corrected but now issue with a radar?
Hydrogen’s so tiny that, under high pressure (this is liquid H), it will leak out of anything. This is a major reason that the Saturn V was RP1 and LOX (just like the V2, and Falcon 9, and a number of others throughout the world and since WWII), with the cryofueled upper stages requiring much smaller tanks (and with some use of hypergolic fuel, which stores easier and longer).
This Artemis is a Shuttle-derived vehicle, and like the Shuttle main tank, the load-and-go takes much longer to accomplish due to the sheer size. However, you’d think a derivative of a successful vehicle would A) not cost the effin’ Earth, and B) be much easier to develop. This is a uselessly duplicative capability that costs too much, and is (thus far) unproven.
The first orbit of the Moon by Artemis 2 is supposed to be crewed, and in 2024. My guess is, best case will be at least a year late, and more probably, it will never be completed, having been overtaken by events, such as the SpaceX behemoth that had a 14-engine static fire in the past day or so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4XzEmbdtLM
Thanks.
T-56 minutes and counting (a fraction of a minute ago).
How many days for this trip?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.