Graham Sutherland / PolynomialRF folks: am I right in thinking that the three big masts surrounding the launch pad are supporting big helical antennas on the top? big white corkscrew looking things pointing directly up.
speaking of which it looks like they got a radio glitch on the telemetry, a single sample lost to 5s of radio lock loss (0.1Hz transmit period). they're on a hold to investigate but have concluded that it's not a violation.
checks complete, radio lock restored, no constraints, hold cleared, everyone reports go for T-10m to launch!
crew's response to go check was "FULL SEND!", gotta love it
seems it took them a minute to do some busywork but they just continued T-10m
"somebody asked if there's a launch button and there certainly is not" gotta love the public lol
they retracted the walkway. launch abort system is armed, liquid hydrogen pressurisation is underway.
final checks underway on the RS25 cryo engines. just T-3m30 now
why is the gimbal test cute 😂 wiggle wiggle
all systems go, T-60s to launch
ALS takeover!
just a few seconds now
approaching max-Q
throttle down to 85%, SRBs separated
fairing jettisoned, they're going strong!
all four engines made it all the way to MECO! always nice to get nominal when you only need 3/4 to get you there
core stage separation was one hell of a view
onboard camera feeds seem to be a bit iffy, but otherwise everything looks good
250 miles from earth
loving the KSP style navball in mission control
they've been triple checking the power systems because one of the battery temperatures read way off before launch due to what they are fairly sure is a sensor failure. all looks good though.
solar arrays are deploying. once they're out and locked they'll be fully out of the ascent stage and will switch to Abort To Orbit (ATO) mode
"we're happy to report that Jeremy has the O2 sensors on" good to know, thanks Jeremy
ground showing 7 second error between the MET clocks on Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) and another system (I missed the name, sorry), but crew reports their end shows them in perfect alignment.
if you're familiar with doing a circularisation burn at apoapsis in KSP, that's essentially what we're coming up on.
(got those mixed up for a moment! they're coming up on apoapsis, burning to raise periapsis)
"we don't burn at perigee, we burn a bit earlier, around apogee" well that's probably a good thing given that perigee is currently somewhere near the ground
just broke 1000 miles from earth!
mission control calling in checks to confirm go for MCC
broadcast is showing other clips now, bit annoying. I was hoping to see the solar panels lock into the forward position ready for ICPS burn
someone surprised the host lol
solar arrays locked in forward orientation, we have ICPS stage ignition, RL10 engine nominal, perigee raise maneuver burn underway!
just a 26 second burn for circularisation, doesn't take much once that main engine mass is gone.
ICPS cutoff.
the video feed from the craft is absolute potato, sadly.
oh god they forgot to install a filter in the toilet
this raised a smirk from one of the ground control staff
White Sands Test Facility has telemetry but Houston does not, investigation ongoing.
this probably explains why the video feed is potato
Houston in the blind due to the TDRSS satellite not relaying properly.
Mission Control has copied that the toilet filter was not installed as expected, they have instructed the crew to install a fresh one (thankfully they have spares!)
Chuck@gsuberland Yeah, but installing the filter is a crappy job. 🙂