SpaceX Falcon 9 : SAOCOM 1B : Cape Canaveral : August 30, 2020 (23:19 UTC)

[AS-503]

Gemini-8, March 16, 1966 Titan II and Atlas Agena . First docking, Commander was Neil Armstrong

Followed shortly by an unplanned swim in the Atlantic ocean.

[the_other_Doug]

Gemini-8, March 16, 1966 Titan II and Atlas Agena . First docking, Commander was Neil Armstrong

Followed shortly by an unplanned swim in the Atlantic ocean.

Pacific.  Gemini VIII being the only Gemini to use a contingency recovery zone, in the Sea of Japan (the closest American facility was Naha AFB), Armstrong always said, with false pride, that it held the record for landing the furthest away from its prime recovery vessel. 

[scr00chy]

Visual mission profile (previous launches here)

[theonlyspace]

Flying over Cuba and Central American  countries  will the Falcon9
 be high enough so some one there could not shoot it down with a anti aircraft rocket?

[AC in NC]

Flying over Cuba and Central American  countries  will the Falcon9
 be high enough so some one there could not shoot it down with a anti aircraft rocket?

Yes.  It's not even close.

[kdhilliard]

Flying over Cuba and Central American  countries  will the Falcon9
 be high enough so some one there could not shoot it down with a anti aircraft rocket?

That's a strange hypothetical question, but working off of Flight Club's charts for this launch, the upper stage will start crossing Cuba (23°N) at about T+470s, at an altitude of 520 km and velocity of 4,000 m/s.  So no, it would not be vulnerable to an anti-aircraft weapon.  It could be susceptible to an anti-satellite weapon (ASAT), but would be a harder target than an established satellite with well know orbital parameters.

Edit: For comparison, the high and fast flying SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft had a maximum speed of 983 m/s (1,910 knots) and a service ceiling of 26 km.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/conae_oficial/status/1300150710412218368

Google translate

We are ready! #Hay equipment!

 Paula Stebe, send us this photo of the group Support Buenos Aires, and Jesica Richardi Maguire that of the SAOCOM Mission Control Center, from Córdoba.

 Let's go #SAOCOM1B !

#ArgentinaUnida#HaciaElFuturo
💪🚀🛰️❤️🇦🇷

[FutureSpaceTourist]

L-0 launch weather forecast, still only 40% GO

[Barley]

I am a bit confused by the ground track that would put this SpaceX launch over Delta Heavy. A track like that would put it over West Palm Beach as well as the Bahamas. I thought it was flying out to the southwest over the ocean and then turning south after it cleared the coast of Florida and Bahama. Is there a map that shows the path? Or is this just speculation.

I am also confused about the launch track.  Does anybody have actual information (from a complete calculation or from SpaceX) for the azimuth of the launch?  Will the video enable us to determine the azimuth after the fact?

It seems obvious that for the dogleg you want the initial horizontal direction to be at roughly right angles to the eventual orbit.   The earlier you start the cross track velocity component the longer the time that component builds cross track distance and the less cross track velocity needed.  I know there are other constraints, and cosines, involved but it seems clear that for the optimal path that avoids West Palm Beach the initial ground path (and the path of the impact point) should be well out to sea, not in the general direction of West Palm Beach; somewhere close to east, certainly nowhere near south by east.

[rdale]

I’d put launch weather chances at about 10%, maybe 20% at best.

[kdhilliard]

...  Will the video enable us to determine the azimuth after the fact? ...

Do we know if a Mission Control Audio feed will be available for this launch?  They display instantaneous groundtrack location and IIP location for both stages.  See the one for the most recent RTLS flight, CRS-20: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Iif96DchxXo

If we get one for SAOCOM 1B, you will certainly be able to figure out the launch azimuth.

It would be fantastic if someone could write some code to extract a complete groundtrack and IIP track from these videos.  (Onespeed, you already do a great job extracting and crunching the tracking info from the primary webcast.  Care to take on an even harder challenge?)

[Steven Pietrobon]

Link to NSF stream.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Here's the Starlink mission control audio, but its counting down to the SAOCOM 1B launch time.

Update. The stream has started and is showing LC-40. Not hearing anything on the audio yet.

[Moonwatcher]

Here's the Starlink mission control audio, but its counting down to the SAOCOM 1B launch time.

It’s live now

[Steven Pietrobon]

T-38 minutes. The SpaceX Launch Director should be verifying go for propellant load about now.

Proceeding with propellant loading. Tracking a weather constraint.

[vaporcobra]

Via NET, still tracking a weather constraint but conditions are trending in a favorable direction.

[Steven Pietrobon]

NSF coverage has started.

[Steven Pietrobon]

T-35 minutes. First and second stage RP-1 and first stage LOX loading should be starting about now.

[Chris Bergin]

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1300202797082775552

[Eagandale4114]

Weather remains red.

Open channel 7 here with windows media player for a higher res video. Kudos to Airbus_747 on twitter for mentioning it.

https://twitter.com/EmreKelly/status/1300193713956827136

https://twitter.com/Airbus_747/status/1300195671870500864

Edit: Modified link as it somehow redirected to M&Ms.