Artemis (NASA moon mission)

[sts60]

“Red Team” on the pad torquing some bolts on an LH2 replenish valve, due to an intermittent leak in the supply. Hopefully done soon and problem fixed so they can resume LH2 replenishment on both the Core and ICPS.

[arthwollipot]

Countdown has not been stopped. L-1:13 at the time of this posting.

[sts60]

Red Team finished with their work and back safely. Core Stage LH2 flow resumes. Range is currently no go because of a radar issue, which of course they are working. Still about 3-1/2 hours from opening of the launch window.

[arthwollipot]

?? Live stream says launch in less than an hour.

[sts60]

Sorry, I was thinking in the wrong time zone. 1:04 AM EST, 0604 GMT.

[sts60]

LH2 replenish leak seems to have indeed been fixed.

[Checkmite]

Originally Posted by sts60

“Red Team” on the pad torquing some bolts on an LH2 replenish valve, due to an intermittent leak in the supply.

Originally Posted by sts60

Red Team finished with their work and back safely. Core Stage LH2 flow resumes.

Holy badassery. Just drive out to a launch pad with a practically fully-fueled non-safed gigantic rocket sitting on it and turn some bolts.

[arthwollipot]

Countdown appears to be on hold at T-10:00, but since I'm watching it at work I missed why.

[The Great Zaganza]

Supposedly a planned 30 min hold before final countdown

[sts60]

Originally Posted by Checkmite

Holy badassery. Just drive out to a launch pad with a practically fully-fueled non-safed gigantic rocket sitting on it and turn some bolts.

One of the guys I worked with when I was out at KSC was a repository of really good stories. One of them involved an unmanned Mercury Redstone that ignited, then… stopped. The hold-down bolts had fired, so the fully-fueled vehicle was sitting unsecured on the pad. While they were sitting in the launch control bunker nearby debating what to do, the recovery parachute deployed and hung down the side of the vehicle. They waited for the range safety batteries to run down, then drew straws to see who would go out with new bolts and secure the vehicle.

The vehicle had just barely shifted and the bolts wouldn’t quite fit. The guys came back to the bunker, white and shaking, and they waited while the machine shop turned out fractionally smaller bolts that would fit in the misaligned holes. A pick up truck roared up, someone tossed the new bolts out the window, and the truck screamed off. More straws were drawn, and the new smaller bolts did the trick.

[arthwollipot]

Originally Posted by The Great Zaganza

Supposedly a planned 30 min hold before final countdown

Yeah that's pretty standard. When I saw it was held at exactly T-10:00 I figured it was probably a routine thing.

[Puppycow]

NASA TV YouTube live feed

Launch window coming up. The countdown is paused right now while they are working on some (hopefully minor) glitches.

[sts60]

Range has finished with their switch, getting ready to test command destruct capability.

Topping off upper stage (ICPS) LH2. Still in planned T-10 minutes, planned to pick up at 1254 EST, but likely to hold a bit longer while everything is checked after the LH2 and range issue fixes.

[Solitaire]

I thought they were delaying because of a faulty ethernet router.

[sts60]

There is a windowless, heavily fenced (with lotsa razor wire) building with a plethora of antennae on the Cape side. When the commenters talk about range safety, they’re talking about the Air Force folks in there who would blow the rocket up if it decides it would rather head for Orlando than orbit.

In a crewed launch, such signals would cause a very rapid series of events including the abort tower motors yanking the crew module away from a really impressive fireball (Mode 1 Abort).

[sts60]

Originally Posted by Solitaire

I thought they were delaying because of a faulty ethernet router.

The switch has been replaced and they are running tests.

The hold is built into the countdown. Nothing has been delayed yet in terms of the countdown. But due to the LH2 valve fixes and the range fix, they will need some extra time, so they will probably stay in the hold longer than planned.

[sts60]

“Indefinite” slip per PAO, but that just means the Test Director hasn’t declared a new target launch time. It won’t be the original 1:04 AM EST, of course (4 minutes away as I post). Maybe an hour?

[Puppycow]

They are saying that it may be ready to start the countdown soon.

[sts60]

“No constraints to launch.” NTD polling the Mission Management Team.

Test director: ready to proceed.
Launch director: polling.

[sts60]

Launch director: go to resume count and launch.

[sts60]

Enable the booster Safe and Arm devices.

Resume count… now.

[sts60]

Ground Launch Sequencer running. 1:47:44 AM EST is new T-0 time.

[sts60]

A lot of stuff happens very quickly in terminal count. Almost time!

[sts60]

MECO! And core stage sep. The ICPS, SM, and Orion are in orbit.

[Checkmite]

Man was that satisfying to watch. Great job, everyone involved!

[arthwollipot]

What a great launch. My stream hung right before MECO so I missed that, but I'll be watching it again at home. Here at work unfortunately because I use an IP phone I can't have sound from both that and other sources, weird bug yeah I know, so I didn't get the full effect.

[arthwollipot]

They have tie cutting ceremony for the launch director!

[Checkmite]

Solar arrays are deploying now. It's a several-minutes long process, as those things are delicate.

[sts60]

I worked on the Ground Segment and vehicle software integration. It was years ago. It was… very gratifying, and a bit like an out-of-body experience, to watch the launch and ascent.

With the solar arrays out, if all continues to go well, Orion will be on the way to the Moon in about an hour.

[The Great Zaganza]

Is it there yet?

[sts60]

We’ll get there when we get there!

[sts60]

Perigee Raise Maneuver burn completed. Next up: leave Earth.

[Planigale]

Shaun in Space!

[Planigale]

Originally Posted by Checkmite

Holy badassery. Just drive out to a launch pad with a practically fully-fueled non-safed gigantic rocket sitting on it and turn some bolts.

Presumably Gromit?

[sts60]

Translunar injection burn underway!

[sts60]

TLI burn complete. ICPS separation complete. Orion and the Service Module are on their way to the Moon!

[jadebox]

After attending a birthday party on Tuesday, we headed to Titusville to watch the launch. We arrived at 1:15, about 10 minutes after the originally scheduled launch time. We found a place to park nearby and walked into Spaceview Park. Cell service didn't work because there were so many phones in a small space. So, we were not sure about the launch status.

Although the park was crowded, everyone seemed friendly and they made room for us where my vertically-challenged wife could see the rocket on the launch pad.

We still didn't know if or when the rocket would launch until about 20 minutes later when someone yelled "10 minutes."

Almost 10 minutes later, we heard people counting down "10 .. 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ......"

And then the sun exploded on the horizon. The brightness of the rocket was close to painfully. After a few seconds the sound reached us and quickly crescendoed into thunder.

The rocket's path crossed over the moon. As the rocket appeared to move down, the rocket's exhaust trail spread out to completely blot out the moon occasionally..

[Checkmite]

I've seen video clips taken by others in the area. You're not exaggerating even slightly - it was exactly like a sunrise in the middle of the night. I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen plenty of videos of launches.

That must have been incredible to witness personally. I'm glad you got the chance!

[Puppycow]

Originally Posted by jadebox

And then the sun exploded on the horizon. The brightness of the rocket was close to painfully. After a few seconds the sound reached us and quickly crescendoed into thunder.

I believe that this rocket, the SLS, is now the largest rocket ever launched into space. It must have been intense.

I had the pleasure last year of seeing a rocket launch when I visited family in California. It was the rocket that launched the DART mission that recently smacked into the asteroid. But I imagine that the rocket I saw was quite a bit smaller than the one you saw. It was a Falcon 9 rocket. You can see a visual comparison here. Still, it was quite loud even though we were miles away. Doesn't take long for it to get out of sight.

[sts60]

I’m glad you were able to see it live, jadebox. There’s nothing like that sky-ripping rumble.

(So, is the Dixie Crossroads (seafood restaurant) still there?)