Congrats all around, well done! Great coverage, Zach got his name up in bright-lights, no one mentioned "the pipe", oh blast I just did, drink...
Congratulations, a nice launch!But for a fraction of a second just before liftoff, I was worried that something was going wrong. There seemed to be an unusually long delay between the umbilical disconnect and the Atlas V lifting off. (Aren't they timed with liftoff?) Even the commentator seemed to stretch the liftoff announcement in surprise. Did the RD-180 ramp up to full thrust slower than usual, or am I just imagining things?
Target: QuotePerigee Altitude: 100 nmi | Apogee Altitude: 19,323 nmi | Inclination: 23.29 degCurrent display just before sep:Perigee Altitude: 99.95 nmi | Apogee Altitude: 19,342 nmi | Inclination: 23.289 deg
Perigee Altitude: 100 nmi | Apogee Altitude: 19,323 nmi | Inclination: 23.29 deg
This, coupled with the fact that an announcer might be watching a different clock, than a video feed
A lot of times the announcers seem to stretch out the word liiiiiiiift off
Quote from: Newton_V on 01/21/2017 03:40 pmA lot of times the announcers seem to stretch out the word liiiiiiiift offAnd then, of course, there's the famous "lift off... did not occur" on the COTS-2 abort ;-)But this one soared away beautifully, as expected with ULA. Great work!
@AF_SMC & @LockheedMartin update on #SBIRS GEO Flight 3. 1st of 6 orbit raising burns completed. Satellite healthy & operating nominally.