[Jack Hydrazine]

There is also another launch taking place today.

Chinese spacecraft poised for launch with two astronauts (4:30pm PDT/7:30pm EDT)
http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/10/16/chinese-spacecraft-poised-for-launch-with-two-astronauts/

(excerpt)
China is gearing up to launch two astronauts on a month-long expedition to the country’s new orbiting space lab module Sunday.

Officials lifted a news blackout on the Shenzhou 11 mission Saturday, revealing the identities of the astronauts and announcing the space capsule is set for liftoff from the Jiuquan space center at 2330 GMT (7:30 p.m. EDT) Sunday to kick off China’s sixth piloted spaceflight.

The Shenzhou 11 capsule is awaiting blastoff on top of a Long March 2F rocket, and Chinese technicians were scheduled to begin fueling the launcher late Saturday.

The launch is timed for 7:30 a.m. Beijing time Monday, when the orbital path of China’s Tiangong 2 space lab passes over Jiuquan, a military-run space center in northwestern China’s Inner Mongolia region, a sparsely-populated stretch of the Gobi desert.

Assuming a smooth ascent into orbit Sunday, the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft should complete an automated docking with Tiangong 2 some time Tuesday, beginning a 30-day stay aboard the research module by commander Jing Haipeng and flight engineer Chen Dong.

Counting the transit times between Earth and Tiangong 2, the flight should last 33 days.

That is more than twice as long as China’s longest piloted spaceflight to date, the 14-day Shenzhou 10 mission in June 2013, which was also the country’s last crewed space mission.

Jing is making his third trip into orbit after flying on the Shenzhou 7 and 9 missions in 2008 and 2012, logging more than 15 days in space. The Chinese military pilot will turn 50 during the Shenzhou 11 flight and become China’s most experienced astronaut by the time he lands.

[Jack Hydrazine]

This graphic depicts the maximum elevation the Antares rocket will appear above the horizon for skywatchers in the Mid-Atlantic. For example, a viewer in Pittsburg would not expect to see the rocket appear higher in the sky than five degrees above the horizon (about the width of three fingers held at arm’s length). Credit: Orbital ATK


This “first-sight” map indicates potential to see Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket in the minutes following its launch. Credit: Orbital ATK

[Jack Hydrazine]

Antares Rocket Mated With Cygnus Spacecraft Timelapse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI2f6U0V098

Watch how the Saffire experiment will be conducted in space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JkQ12JluJ0

What’s on board?
https://blogs.nasa.gov/orbital/2016/10/15/whats-on-board/

[Jack Hydrazine]

Live launch coverage here:

http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

[Fiddlstix]

Bookmark

[Jack Hydrazine]

Video: Antares/Cygnus pre-launch news conference
http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/10/16/video-antarescygnus-pre-launch-news-conference/

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Thanks Jack. BKMK

[fella]

That rocket packs a serious wallop.

Wallops Island has come a long ways from just firing sounding rockets.