Electron F29: Antipodean Adventure (NROL-199) Mahia LC-1B - 4 Aug 2022 05:00 UTC

[Steven Pietrobon]

Fairing separation.

T+4 minutes

[Steven Pietrobon]

T+5 minutes.

[Steven Pietrobon]

T+6 minutes.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Hotswap.

T+7 minutes.

[Steven Pietrobon]

T+8 minutes.

[Steven Pietrobon]

T+9 minutes.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Cutoff.

[Steven Pietrobon]

End of webcast.

[Mark McCombs]

Rocket Lab
@RocketLab


Now the Kick Stage is in a perfect transfer orbit, as planned. Around an hour from now the Curie engine will ignite to circularize its orbit ahead of payload deployment. Stay tuned for confirmation of payload deployment!

[FST edit: please link to source

https://twitter.com/rocketlab/status/1555059390960480256 ]

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Spacecraft separation:

https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1555074144076587010

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1555056307874533376

Electron launches with NROL-199 from Launch Complex-1B (LC-1B) at Rocket Lab’s launch facility on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand.

Overview:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2022/08/rocket-labs-nrol-199/

Livestream:
youtube.com/watch?v=ij94xG…

twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1555057067035164673

Staging 1-2.

https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1555058774100123649

SECO. On to the Kick Stage. End of webcast cause NRO is secret sauce orbits.

[Rondaz]

https://twitter.com/SpaceIntellige3/status/1555117266152333317

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Launch photos from Rocket Lab

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/peter_j_beck/status/1555304086429241344

Even better in slow-mo

[OneSpeed]

Here is a comparison of the boost phase of the webcast telemetry from the Electron 28 and 29 missions.

Electron 28 launched due East into a 39° inclination orbit. From the NGA notices, Electron 29 initial azimuth was about 135° prograde. This accounts for the generally lower velocities displayed for the Electron 29 booster.

The NGA notices also implied a dogleg to a much higher inclination of about 82° prograde, but it wasn't apparent in the boost phase webcast video or telemetry. The second stage may have performed the manoeuvre.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Rocket Lab launch photos