| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 533.1 | missed one :-( | SHAOLN::DENSMORE | Holy owned and operated! | Thu May 11 1989 08:45 | 5 |
| The 34D already left the gate. I saw it on CBS last night. It carried an
Air Force payload and speculation is that it consisted of two advanced
communication satellites (part of the Defense Satellite Comm System).
Mike
|
| 533.2 | | STAR::HUGHES | | Thu May 11 1989 15:01 | 4 |
| Yeah, it looks it it was nearing the end of its countdown as I typed in
the base note...
gary
|
| 533.3 | short notice | SHAOLN::DENSMORE | Holy owned and operated! | Mon May 22 1989 13:33 | 6 |
| There was to be a launch of a navagational satellite yesterday but it was
postponed due to a severe thunderstorm. The launch is now scheduled for
tomorrow (the 23rd) at 7:43 PM eastern time. The launch vehicle is the
Delta II.
Mike
|
| 533.4 | | STAR::HUGHES | | Thu May 25 1989 11:09 | 7 |
| They attempted to launch the Delta last night, but the launch was
aborted by the onboard sequencer at T-0 when the main LOX valve failed
to open. The turbopumps and verniers shut down OK and there is hope
that the problem can be repaired on the pad without unstacking the
vehicle.
gary
|
| 533.5 | | DECWIN::FISHER | Burns Fisher 381-1466, ZKO3-4/W23 | Thu May 25 1989 13:42 | 5 |
| Thank heaven for onboard sequencers even on a relatively old rocket. I can just
see the thing taking off on the Castors alone with disgusting black smoke from
almost unburned kerosene pouring out the main engines. Blah!
Burns
|
| 533.6 | | STAR::HUGHES | | Thu May 25 1989 15:20 | 23 |
| Yeah. I was watching the launch (oops, sorry, on NASA Select only NASA
has launches, the DoD has 'events') and there was clearly flame at the
base of the rocket around T-1 but it didn't 'look right' and my first
thought was 'who ignites the Castors?'. It turns out that they will not
fire unless the main engine reaches 95% operating pressure within two
seconds of the command to start it.
This was the second launch performed by USAF Space Systems Delta Launch
Control (or is that Delta event control?). The official 'voice' tripped
himself up during the count and was announcing 'liftoff' at the same
time the Delta was shutting down and voices in the background were
saying 'Uh-oh'. Still, the coverage was much better than I expected from
a DoD 'event'.
They played a selection of scenes of the vehicle being prepped and it
was an interesting contrast to the NASA image where most everyone
looks, well, dressed up (or sealed in some sort of clean suit). This
just looked like a bunch of people going about their work although it
was easy to tell the contractors from the 'blue suiters'.
The Delta slated to launch Insat was visible on the other pad at LC-17.
gary
|