Posted on 11/06/2007 7:17:01 PM PST by KevinDavis
Turning green with envy as this is typed. }:-)><
uhhh,, couldn’t they have used a diiferent color besides GREEN for the flight trajectory. :-}
missed the whole darn thing again. congrats to the crew.
spaceflightnow.com
It all begins with 1.9 million pounds of thrust powering the Delta 4-Heavy rocket ever so slowly off the ground, taking more than 15 seconds for the vehicle to clear the launch pad tower on three pillars of flame from the hydrogen-fueled engines.
“It’s a spectacular ascent...It has a thrust-to-weight ratio of about 1.2-to-1 coming off the pad. So you get a lot time to watch it as it rises up above the umbilical tower,” Planeaux said.
The flames are visible, but there’s little visible exhaust, as opposed to SRB’s.
I anticipate hearing this one from the beach across the street tonight (Indialantic, FL about 20 some miles down the coast).
Post what you see of the launch. It’s supposed to spend a lot of time beating up the launch pad before it finally gets moving.
spaceflightnow.com
2225 GMT (5:25 p.m. EST)
Weather continues to look excellent for launch, fueling operations remain underway at pad 37B and mission managers say there are no significant technical issues being worked in the countdown.
spaceflightnow.com
2346 GMT (6:46 p.m. EST)
All remains fairly quiet in the countdown as clocks continue to tick toward an on-time liftoff at 8:39 p.m. EST this evening. The eight cryogenic propellant tanks aboard the Delta 4-Heavy rocket are now full as pre-flight activities proceed smoothly.
spaceflightnow.com
0034 GMT (7:34 p.m. EST Sat.)
The team is now preparing to conduct steering checks of the Delta 4 rocket’s engines.
0025 GMT (7:25 p.m. EST Sat.)
The Range Safety checks have been completed.
spaceflightnow.com
0053 GMT (7:53 p.m. EST Sat.)
Now 45 minutes from launch. All systems remain “go” for a liftoff of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket at 8:39 p.m.
Compared to this launch, the STS jumps off the pad. Quite visible hope you saw it. MR of about 6 for the LH2/LO2 fueled RS-68 and then after-burning of the residual hydrogen with air. I felt the windows shaking in the facility I was in. We’re good through the first two burns of the DCSS RL-10 with one to go in the wee hours of the morning and then S/C sep.
Saw a couple images of the launch on spaceflightnow.com
The flame seems bright and there is no contrail or smoke. Hydrogen rockets are large for their power due to the low density of the LOH, but efficient.
Took the kids over to the beach and had a great view of the launch. Through the binoculars it was almost laborious to watch how slowly the Delta4-Heavy climbs. It was beautiful to watch all the way through MECO.
It’s good some could see the launch. The military payload is apparently the 24th and last in the missile launch detection set.
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