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Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch Live Thread 09/09/06 11:15 am EDT
09/07/06 | Kevin Davis

Posted on 09/07/2006 6:56:16 PM PDT by KevinDavis

Lets burn this candle!!!!


TOPICS: Breaking News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: atlantis; godspeedatlantis; nasa; shuttle; shuttleatlantis; space
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To: markman46

Rocket Man?


301 posted on 09/09/2006 8:45:51 AM PDT by mikrofon (Up, Up & Away)
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To: All
View from my backyard on the west coast of Florida:

STS-115_0995

STS-115_0997

302 posted on 09/09/2006 8:46:18 AM PDT by PogySailor (Media bias? What media bias?)
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To: PogySailor

How far? Can you hear it from there?


303 posted on 09/09/2006 8:48:13 AM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: oxcart

Is that an aerospike engine?


304 posted on 09/09/2006 8:48:26 AM PDT by burzum (Despair not! I shall inspire you by charging blindly on!--Minsc, BG2)
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To: burzum

Looks like an ion motor.


305 posted on 09/09/2006 8:50:32 AM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: PogySailor

The West Coast? Wow, didn't realize the thing would be that prominent to the East that far away and over the horizon fromt he West Coast of Florida.


306 posted on 09/09/2006 8:50:53 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: burzum

The Mighty J-58
The design of the engine's thermodynamic cycle was begun in 1956, and it was flying by April, 1962. Classified missions began in 1964, and continued into the mid 90s. No SR-71s have ever been lost to enemy fire, because no weapon has ever been able to go high enough and fast enough to actually hit one.

Although the internal turbomachinary design is primitive by modern standards, the design point is certainly unique! In cruise it operates as a ramjet, reaching speeds of Mach 3 to Mach 3.5 (depending on the weather conditions above 80,000 feet).

It burns an extremely low vapor pressure fuel called JP-7, which was formulated specially for the SR-71. You can put a cigerette out in a dish of JP-7. The fuel is designed to be hard to light because the airframe skin in the vicinity of the fuel tank is 500 - 600 degrees F at cruise. Even worse, the fuel is actually used as the hydraulic fluid in the engine actuators! The idea is, a steady supply of "cool" fluid arrives from the fuel tanks and gets used in hydraulic devices around the engine. Hydraulic fluid in a closed system would soon get as hot as the parts through which it ran - - but this special fluid gets used as fuel before it gets too hot! Afterburner ignition is spectacular, when an ultra-hot flash of Tetra-Ethyl Borane ("TEB") is squirted into the flame holders.


307 posted on 09/09/2006 8:52:19 AM PDT by oxcart (Journalism [Sic])
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To: fanfan
I saw one go in the late 80's.

I hope I can get to see one before they are retired.

Late August I was with a couple of buds just above North Bay.
We we're fishing at night with the sky wonderfully clear and full of stars
and the lake so calm that the Milky Way reflected in it.
As we looked for shooting stars a brilliant object appeared over the horizon
and made its way majestically across the firmament.
We knew right away it had to be the ISS. What an awesome treat it was to see.

308 posted on 09/09/2006 8:53:28 AM PDT by kanawa
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To: PogySailor
All I ever get to see is these pesky critters.



I had an A-10 fly over about a half hour ago which is unusual on a non race weekend.
309 posted on 09/09/2006 8:53:45 AM PDT by cripplecreek (If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?)
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To: RightWhale

This is problably about 90-100 miles from us, 1:30 - 2:30 minutes after liftoff. These were taken with a 300MM lens.


310 posted on 09/09/2006 8:54:34 AM PDT by PogySailor (Media bias? What media bias?)
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To: oxcart
Thanks. I should have recognized that photo (I've seen it before). I automatically assumed it was an aerospike because of the diamond shock waves which are common for aerospike engines:




311 posted on 09/09/2006 8:56:41 AM PDT by burzum (Despair not! I shall inspire you by charging blindly on!--Minsc, BG2)
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To: PogySailor

spaceflightnow.com
1552 GMT (11:52 a.m. EDT)

T+plus 38 minutes, 30 seconds. The maneuvering engines have ignited for the two-minute orbit raising burn.




Thought it might be a long lens. Probably too far for sound to carry, and a delay of eight minutes anyway.


312 posted on 09/09/2006 8:57:54 AM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: RightWhale

spaceflightnow.com
1555 GMT (11:55 a.m. EDT)

T+plus 40 minutes, 30 seconds. Atlantis has completed the OMS burn.



That's about it for the ascent phase. Maybe a tweak later.


313 posted on 09/09/2006 9:00:33 AM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: TomGuy

Brent Jett is a great name for an astronaut. :)

Anyone notice a black object that appeared to be falling out of the sky near the vehicle just a few seconds after it cleared the tower? I have not heard any mention of this yet so I assume it was a bird. Looked like kind of a big one though.


314 posted on 09/09/2006 9:12:54 AM PDT by TNCMAXQ
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Spaceflight Now reports:
A quick review of video from the external tank-mounted camera shows a couple of very small pieces of debris shedding from the tank well after solid rocket booster separation. So far, it looks like Atlantis had a clean ascent.

315 posted on 09/09/2006 9:13:51 AM PDT by burzum (Despair not! I shall inspire you by charging blindly on!--Minsc, BG2)
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To: fanfan

If the launches were not cancelled at the last minute so many times it would be well worth a ride to the Cape to see the event real up close and personal.


316 posted on 09/09/2006 9:40:26 AM PDT by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: KevinDavis

I watched the launch on NASA TV; creat sight to behold. Every launch makes me tip my hat to the scores of engineers and aerospace technicians who created that machine. I want to pat the back of every man and woman behind the shuttle and say, "Damn fine work!"

'Tis a pity that that the first one did not launch early enough to save and restore Skylab.


317 posted on 09/09/2006 9:41:44 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: kanawa

I've seen it too.

What a sight, eh?


318 posted on 09/09/2006 9:44:56 AM PDT by fanfan (Trust everybody, but cut the cards yourself.)
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To: lastchance
We just happened to be vacationing along the coast.

The first one was canceled, but it went up the next day.
319 posted on 09/09/2006 9:46:12 AM PDT by fanfan (Trust everybody, but cut the cards yourself.)
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To: KevinDavis; don-o; RightWhale

How did it go?


320 posted on 09/09/2006 10:03:41 AM PDT by Howlin (Who in the press will stick up for ABC's right to air this miniseries? ~~NRO)
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