Rocket(s) launching live

[orbitingpluto]

4 minutes to lift-off.

[orbitingpluto]

Lift-off went well, the solids being bright enough to dim the cameras to the point where it nearly looked like a night launch. It's cloudy in French Guiana, so the webcast is showing a great deal of computer simulation.

[orbitingpluto]

And both satellites have been separated, closing off this flight as a success. Just repeating what I asked earlier, does anyone want links to launch replays/highlights?

Anyway, the next two launches are a Soyuz out of Baikonur carrying a Soyuz TMA spacecraft headed for the ISS on the 22nd, followed by a Delta IV launching a military communications satellite the next day.

[SpottedKitty]

Just repeating what I asked earlier, does anyone want links to launch replays/highlights?

A great big yes here, I don't always read these forums often enough to catch a post here before the actual launch. I like watching launch videos, especially if there's onboard cameras.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Just repeating what I asked earlier, does anyone want links to launch replays/highlights?

A great big yes here, I don't always read these forums often enough to catch a post here before the actual launch. I like watching launch videos, especially if there's onboard cameras.

Seconded very strongly

[orbitingpluto]

Two votes are enough for me, though to keep the topic lightweight for slower connections, I'll simply link to videos instead of embedding. Here's a replay of the Ariane 5 launch up to about 4 minutes, and since the video I posted earlier of the day's Atlas V launch is back on page two, here it is again. Enjoy

[SpottedKitty]

Excellent, thanks.

[orbitingpluto]

Tomorrow three people will climb aboard a Soyuz, that tops a another, different kind of Soyuz, to go to the ISS. The ESA has video series that explains the launch, docking, and also landing of the Soyuz capsule, and just below is the launch video.




Anyway, with liftoff set for 9:02 pm UTC, and hopefully a rendezvous followed by docking just 6 hours after launch, it should be a exciting day for Oleg Kononenko(Roscosmos), Kimiya Yui(JAXA), and Kjell Lindgren(NASA). If all goes well during the launch period webcast(starts a hour before liftoff), coverage will move to the ISS thread for the "Blue Danube" part of the mission, with another video by the ESA to help fill the hours til docking.


But wait a moment, what if there was another rocket's liftoff to enjoy? Well, a Delta 4 is set to launch the day after tomorrow from Cape Canaveral, so should you have had an unstated and unsated desire for more rocket launches, your in luck. Information on that webcast will follow after the Soyuz launch, probably in the same post with link to video replay of the Soyuz launch.

[orbitingpluto]

I didn't get home anywhere near as quickly as I hoped, but at least for three different travelers things went pretty much as planned. One solar panel on the end of one of the two arrays didn't deploy automatically, but otherwise it's well enough that the Soyuz is free to catch up to the ISS. Perhaps you also missed the launch live? Here's a video of it.

Since the docking is to be covered in the ISS topic, here's a link to there.

[orbitingpluto]

I forgot to say, the Delta 4 launch has been scrubbed a day due to weather, so it'll take place on the 24-25th, at 8:07 pm EDT / 12:07 pm UTC.

[orbitingpluto]

That Delta 4 I mentioned? Launched successfully, here's a replay of part of it.

[orbitingpluto]

August has been slow so far, but it'll pickup speed from here. This week you can look forward to:

Aug 19: The 5th HTV cargo vehicle will launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan aboard a H-IIB rocket on a resupply mission to the ISS. The webcast will be through JAXA's youtube channel when it happens, which due to weather might be postponed again.

Aug 20th: Arianespace will be launching two communications satellites towards geostationary orbit with the Ariane 5. Webcast will be through Arianespace.tv, as usual. There's a a launch kit for this flight, so if you want to know a bit more about the satellites or the Ariane V, the launch campaign timeline, or expected flight timeline, it's worth a look.