Graham Sutherland / Polynomialall 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!)
and while they're fixing the toilet Houston is rebooting their machines to try to get their forward radio link back up. seems like the TDRSS West switchover didn't work.
link back up!
voice check on TDRSS loud and clear both ways
host tactfully referring to the toilet as "life support" is cracking me up
Houston just told them to boot up the toilet.
host: "the uh, the uhh waste systems... onboard"
for folks who were watching a YouTube feed that stopped, you can carry on watching through NASA Live.
sounds like the space piss drama has been averted
wait no the toilet shut down with a fault light
Houston: "we're gonna have to think about that one for a while"
fucking IoT
host continuing to conspicuously avoid saying "toilet" and keeps using terms like "waste management systems"
"a question for Christina for toilet" betting she never thought those words would be broadcast to the world
imagine going through all that astronaut training, getting selected for Artemis II, and then your first publicly audible contribution to the mission is fixing the shitter
conference statement confirms TDRSS East to West switchover caused the temporary loss of forward comms - uplink from CAPCOM to crew was working, but crew to CAPCOM wasn't, hence why Houston was in the blind. they haven't disclosed the root cause, it'll probably take a while for the analysis since everyone is busy.
they've opened up the floor to questions reporters and, as is tradition, the first question is incredibly banal (about food)
the guy answering *really* sounds like Johnny Cash though
someone did ask for more info on the TDRSS issue and Amit Kshatriya referred to the crossover as "squirrelly", which I believe is the technical term.
they've confirmed we're good to go on proximity ops
confirmed temperature sensor instrumentation issue responsible for the battery problem identified prior to launch. the sensor was reading an order of magnitude off from the rest and it was clear there was no physical way for that to be a true reading, so they were happy to vote the sensor out and consider the battery within spec.
someone asked why there wasn't any public safety broadcast on site during the launch hold. panel looks at each other. apparently this was news to them and they're going to look into it.
(the guy asked it in a kinda weird way so it may well be a nothingburger, idk)
cubesats are mounted in the Orion stage adapter, so once the prox ops demo is complete they'll be deployed. unfortunately it does sound like the cameras on the spacecraft won't be able to see that deployment so we won't get a live view of it, which is a shame.
but I might be wrong, the answer was a bit handwavey and I'm getting pretty sleepy.
I think imma call it here, folks. I'd love to keep live posting but I'm exhausted. thanks for coming along for the ride.
SnoopJ@gsuberland fly safe, there will be plenty of space over the next 10 days :D
Cats Who Code (cursed)@gsuberland we'd love to hear more tomorrow! 👾
@CatsWhoCode I'll try to check back in but I've got a very busy day tomorrow unfortunately!
@gsuberland no worries! whenever you get the chance 😺
kira for scale@gsuberland where was this conference lmao
@kirakira Kennedy Space Center.
~n
curtosis@gsuberland I worked with telemetry systems early in my career and can confirm that yes, that is the technical term.