Author Topic: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH - Flight Day 1  (Read 200758 times)

Offline psloss

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #520 on: 07/15/2009 11:27 pm »
Ok, I never saw those before. They don't support any of the orbiters weight, do they?
No, they don't.

Offline gordo

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #521 on: 07/15/2009 11:28 pm »
His specific words about the forward marks were "probably coating loss."

Thats not what he should have said, until you can prove any theory you can't go there.  The video does show quite a bit heading for the Orbiter

« Last Edit: 07/15/2009 11:28 pm by gordo »

Offline dmoisan

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #522 on: 07/15/2009 11:28 pm »
[not a debris Q. for once...]

The camera on the ET is wireless, and transmits to the Endeavour, correct?

I've always wondered how far down the ET video goes?  I know, I know, it won't transmit all the way down, but it'd be cool to see.  (does the tank stop tumbling before it breaks up?)

Offline gordo

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #523 on: 07/15/2009 11:29 pm »
[not a debris Q. for once...]

The camera on the ET is wireless, and transmits to the Endeavour, correct?

I've always wondered how far down the ET video goes?  I know, I know, it won't transmit all the way down, but it'd be cool to see.  (does the tank stop tumbling before it breaks up?)

Its direct downlink from a TX on the ET cam to 2 ground stations

Offline psloss

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #524 on: 07/15/2009 11:29 pm »
[not a debris Q. for once...]

The camera on the ET is wireless, and transmits to the Endeavour, correct?

I've always wondered how far down the ET video goes?  I know, I know, it won't transmit all the way down, but it'd be cool to see.  (does the tank stop tumbling before it breaks up?)
This should go in the Q&A thread...answered a while ago:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=9814.msg186120#msg186120

Offline nathan.moeller

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #525 on: 07/15/2009 11:30 pm »
[not a debris Q. for once...]

The camera on the ET is wireless, and transmits to the Endeavour, correct?

I've always wondered how far down the ET video goes?  I know, I know, it won't transmit all the way down, but it'd be cool to see.  (does the tank stop tumbling before it breaks up?)

Tank tumbles all the way down.
www.astro95media.com - Lead Video & Graphics

Offline psloss

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #526 on: 07/15/2009 11:33 pm »
Tank tumbles all the way down.
Probably worth noting that the tank no longer has a tumble valve in it and doesn't begin tumbling much until/unless the LO2/LH2 tanks relieve pressure through their vent valves.  (Lots of camcorder video in recent missions of the GH2 venting out from the intertank area.)
« Last Edit: 07/15/2009 11:34 pm by psloss »

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #527 on: 07/15/2009 11:33 pm »
Mike Moses:

Tough to get here.  Started when the OV-105 team rolled for LON-400 back in October.  Then we finally launched 125 in May, so then we had to start.  Had the GUCP leaks, then had the lightning strikes right before launch which the teams powered through to get us a good ship right before launch.  Then the Florida weather.  We just got a break today.  Everything was smooth today, great count, all the ones we've had have been.  Great Shuttle.  Heard a call on the "Hi Duct Heaters A/B", just an extra switch to flip.  FES needed more cooling, nothing out of line.  FES is fine, just needed a bit more cooling.  Saw some stuff that didn't concern us, saw some stuff we can't speculate on.  We have FD2 inspections, ET umbilical well shots, ET handheld camera video, and the RPM.  We'll get her home safely.

Had a Fuel Cell issue last night, when we hook to the ISS, we lower power on the fuel cell.  Wanted to keep it cooled correctly.  We dialed the power level down here today on the ground, plenty of margin.  We'll be fine on that end.  Going to watch it on orbit for real performance.

For on-orbit, we had to move a few things around to fly today.  Didn't lose anything.  Had to move some things after undocking.  Moved OBSS handoff to after undocking, will unberth the day after we undock instead of doing it on the ISS.

Want to say congratulations and thanks to Pete for his first launch.

Offline psloss

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #528 on: 07/15/2009 11:35 pm »
Mark Kirkman starts with an ops question on the fuel cell. :)  (Hope Norm didn't hurt his jaw when it hit the floor. ;D )
« Last Edit: 07/15/2009 11:36 pm by psloss »

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #529 on: 07/15/2009 11:35 pm »
Pete:

As you know, we replaced the Tyvek covers yesterday, and reset our clock for that.  Didn't have any GUCP leaks today.  Final Inspection Team did note the T-0 slushy ice, it was noted previously, so that was no big deal for us.  The operations in the technical team were on the mark, no issues.  Had some afternoon thunderstorms that picked up, then had to check some anvil clouds over the ocean, turned out all good for us over the last hour.  Smooth count, smooth launch.  Made it look easy, it really wasn't.  Lots of work, so I'd like to thank the teams for this.

Offline Kel

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #530 on: 07/15/2009 11:36 pm »
Mike Moses:
Want to say congratulations and thanks to Pete for his first launch.

Which was celebrated by cutting his tie off....

Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #531 on: 07/15/2009 11:37 pm »

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #532 on: 07/15/2009 11:38 pm »
Mark Kirkman - When you get docked, will you be below or close to the KOH limit?  If you go down, what would you get done with a MDF flight?

A - Part of the test results were to see the actual KOH percentage in the lines, the pH balance, so we can get correct calculations on-orbit.  There's plenty of other ways to measure the temperatures of the cells, inlet/outlet temps, voltage monitors, all this tells you about the flooding, seeing how good you have it.  The MER is off analyzing the data, knowing what we know, we can drop the flight rule a little bit, as we know why it's happening.  If it happened on orbit, we'd be asking more questions.  The second question, if it goes down and we enter a MDF, most of the stuff already gets transferred to the ISS and out of the payload.  We'll just empty the payload and then land.

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #533 on: 07/15/2009 11:40 pm »
Q - Where did the debris come from?  Why this tank, haven't had this much debris on the other tanks.

A - Looks like it came from above the camera.  We've looked at tanks that we have loaded multiple times, didn't see a lot of damage like this.  We'll get the photos and the video from the crew, then we'll analyze it.

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #534 on: 07/15/2009 11:41 pm »
Q - Some of the debris releases were before or right after SRB sep, why is this a concern?

A - More of a delta velocity.  When you have a delta velocity that high, there's more motion between the tiles and the item.  Later in the flight, there's less velocity difference between the object and the tile.

Moses - Another simplicity, the orbiter isn't moving as fast so you just slam into it, when early in the flight.

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #535 on: 07/15/2009 11:43 pm »
Q - Can you describe what happened during the scrub turnaround?  Hardware replaced, etc?

A - Fixed F1D Tyvek cover, actually replaced them all.  Reset the WLEDIS sensors to set their time to launch.  Took LOX and LH2 at the main spheres to support launch.  Several walkdowns and facility preps for the launch.  Once we completed all that, then we have an orderly backout for tanking.

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #536 on: 07/15/2009 11:44 pm »
Q - I believe the critical area is about +1 minute, to +2.5 minutes.  Did you notice any hits on the orbiter in that time?

A - The sensitive time is until about T+2:15.  We can't see that well in the back, so we'll have to use our tools to look at that on orbit.


Followup - How about August 18th for STS-128?

A - Coming out of the OPF will be delayed a little bit, have to turn the pad around.. Then we'll be ready for another vehicle.  Still looking real good for the 18th.

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #537 on: 07/15/2009 11:47 pm »
Q - To the untrained eye, the forward hits on the belly looked like they were pretty good gouges.  What does your trained eye tell you that we might not be seeing?  Is that area exposed to lower temps in re-entry?

A - Basically, you can do the comparative analysis from STS-125 on the upper chine.  These looked like little scuffs, rather than a big gouge.  We have tools to fix it, if necessary.  The fact it looks like it's on one or two tiles is better for us, it looked like small things.  Individual small hits that took the top coating off.  We won't make judgement until we see the photos from the RPM.


Followup - Looks like you would have to wait for the RPM for the imagery, can you get imagery from the OBSS tomorrow?  What's the flight rule on the fuel cell, lose one and come in?

A - I can picture the map, this is a little below on the OBSS scan, but we might not be able to get it, it's a bit farther below.  I'm not too sure.  Second question.. Drawing a blank on the second one, I think one down is a MDF.

Offline psloss

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #538 on: 07/15/2009 11:49 pm »
A - Coming out of the OPF will be delayed a little bit, have to turn the pad around.. Then we'll be ready for another vehicle.  Still looking real good for the 18th.
Already noted here, but also noted in the answer that rather than dwell in the VAB waiting for the pad to be ready, they'll keep OV-103 in the OPF, which has better air conditioning...

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: LIVE: STS-127 LAUNCH ATTEMPT 6 - July 15
« Reply #539 on: 07/15/2009 11:49 pm »
Q - Coating loss, not insignificant, but not significant.  What is the significance to it?

A - If the coating is scuffed enough, could put the same reflective coating on the tile.  It transfers heat slightly, but we'll see.  If it's a gouge, and some of the silica is removed, we can fix that.  We really do have what we need to fix it.  We aren't too concerned because we can see these areas.  We're more concerned in the back end of the Shuttle.

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