Live rocket launch

[Peco4321]

Watch it dock

 

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

 

[Davey-T]

Not exactly a launch but might see it pop up in the air and down again 

Dave

 

[Peco4321]

Less than an hour

 

 

[Paul M]

Not been too much in the press about the Israeli moon shot.

I was watching the live feed of the landing attempt this evening and saw dreams shattered. The lander suffered a few glitches on the deorbiting and final engine burn. They lost telemetry at one point and the main descent engine failed just a few hundred metres from touch down. They rebooted the spacecraft but it looks like the main engine returned to service about the same time as impact.

They announced it as a total loss almost immediaimmediately

The engine was British built. The inquest will be.interesting. Did the engine fail or was it let down by spacecraft systems?

[JamesF]

Yes, I was saddened to read about that earlier.  A huge achievement regardless.  Hopefully someone will be up for having another attempt soon.

James

[Peco4321]

Another great launch and all 3 boosters safely landed. 

[John]

That was great to watch ! 

I thought one of the boosters that landed on land looked a little wobbly at one point but all 3 seem to have made it back down in good shape.

It's surreal watching the pair of them coming down onto the pads side by side

[Stu]

Amazing stuff, just watched it. Thunderbirds are go!

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, John said:

That was great to watch ! 

I thought one of the boosters that landed on land looked a little wobbly at one point but all 3 seem to have made it back down in good shape.

It's surreal watching the pair of them coming down onto the pads side by side

Yes it seemed to be a little wonky on the pad but safe enough.

I love seeing the amateur footage of them coming into land, complete with sonic booms. Incredible!

[JamesF]

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thunderbirds are go!

It really did feel like that, watching the two boosters landing together

James

[John]

Just now, Stu said:

Yes it seemed to be a little wonky on the pad but safe enough.

I love seeing the amateur footage of them coming into land, complete with sonic booms. Incredible!

I saw the first launch where a booster came back down on land when we were in Florida in 2017. It wasn't a heavy lifter - just a single. Quite a quiet launch and a double sonic boom a few minutes later as the booster came back down. Only launch I've managed to actually see despite quite a few trips to Florida over the past couple of decades. I quite fancy a trip to see one of these heavy ones go off though - I'll have to start selling the plan to my other half !

 

[JamesF]

Is it just me who seems to have a "live" video stream that is about ten minutes behind?

James

[Davey-T]

Just now, JamesF said:

Is it just me who seems to have a "live" video stream that is about ten minutes behind?

James

No same here 

Dave

[johnfosteruk]

Just watched it. Fabulous launch. Shame about the Israeli mission. 

[Stub Mandrel]

Rats, google sent me a link saying it was delayed 24 hrs yesterday evening, so I assumed it was tonight.

[JamesF]

I think that may have been a delay from Wednesday.

James

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

I think that may have been a delay from Wednesday.

James

Yeah... I figured that out when I saw the posts above

[maw lod qan]

I was so tempted to make a mad dash to the cape. But I didn't. I'm only a little less than 3 hours of hard driving from there. 

Maybe next time. I want to take my 2 youngest grandkids to experience it close up.

[Davey-T]

 

 

[JamesF]

Something that bothered me about the SpaceX launch and also about this latest one is the use of the word "nominal".  In what sense are they using it?  It's not one with which I am familiar.

James

[Stu]

4 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Something that bothered me about the SpaceX launch and also about this latest one is the use of the word "nominal".  In what sense are they using it?  It's not one with which I am familiar.

James

It means 'as planned' or within boundaries I believe.

[JamesF]

6 minutes ago, Stu said:

It means 'as planned' or within boundaries I believe.

Ah, yes, I can see how that would make sense.

James

[Ags]

I think it is an Americanism or an Engineeringism. I thought it meant "just barely adequate" or "in name only". Like "nominal service" is not good service at all.

[Gfamily]

The full online OED has it as an originally Astronautical usage - earliest citation from 1961

Quote

6. orig. and chiefly Astronautics. Functioning acceptably, normal.

1961   M. Savage Launch Vehicle Handbk. (NASA) A-2   For nominal flights, the pitch gyro of the Scout will be torqued at rates which will produce a zero lift.

1966   Aviation Week & Space Technol. 5 Dec. 30/1   The mission is to launch the 800-lb. Prime vehicle to effect a nominal re-entry at 400,000 ft. following injection at 26,000 fps.

1982   M. Leapman Yankee Doodles iii. 177   During the flight, nominal was the word used most frequently. It appeared to mean normal, or within the nominated guide lines (parameters). ‘That's nominal’ meant ‘no problem’.

1994   H. Weinstein Better Man xi. 108   At the time of our departure for the Enterprise, all readings were nominal.

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by Gfamily

[JamesF]

1 hour ago, Ags said:

I think it is an Americanism or an Engineeringism. I thought it meant "just barely adequate" or "in name only". Like "nominal service" is not good service at all.

That's pretty much the cause of my confusion, Ags.  Particularly where there is commentary such as "X is good; Y is nominal" which makes me think "So Y is not good then?"

James