DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... SpaceX launch

Being of the space race generation and growing up, as most did, wanting to be an astronaut I wanted to extend a Godspeed to those two men sitting on all that power and waiting to launch at 4:32 today.

It always was and it is STILL an exciting event!

May your air be clear, the flight be smooth, the rocket be safe and the sky be blue.

There's a tornado warning right now for the area of the launch. Everyone's watching it closely.

Having seen what inclement weather can do I'd fall well on the safe side when comes to these things.

America could use a win but caution rules here. Dont force it...

I agree. NASA was very good at that for many years. They changed with Challenger. It became a PR deal and everybody wanted the kids to see the teacher launched in to space. It was too cold. Those O-rings lost pliability. A 60 durometer o-ring was now a 80. Just too hard to seal properly.


When that happens, boom.

First American astronauts launched from American soil since 2011. We should also see the booster land under its own power.

No more relying on the ruskies to get to space.

Anyone else find it funny that the astronauts' names are Bob and Doug?

Bloody weather.

Rescheduled to this Sat or Sun. Weather.

Always been a fan, since the 60's, of Nasa Space launches.

That's a shame it's been delayed but it's a good practice based on safety above all else to begin a new program with. Nothing in the world is of more value than crew lives.

Take off eh....

Dang, just saw the news about the weather

Certainly will! I'm impressed by the patience shown as there has to be immense pressure on this venture!
We are definitely seeing the groundwork being laid for the space travel we could only read about as kids and watch on TV from the 60's to the present!

Me too...I still have the original news clipping of Alan Shepard's May 5, 1961, first flight.

I still have an unopened package of space food sticks, I wonder if they’re still good?

If you just bury em with mustard and ketchup and add a sprinkle of salt and pepper you should be good to go.

I live 5 miles from the launchpad in Titusville, the scene around the area in Brevard County today was crazy, traffic was insane. You can tell its been awhile since something like this has happened

I still remember that day. I was in 1st grade living in Gainesville, FL and they had all of us gathered around the TV because Christa McAuliffe was the first teacher to go in to space.

I'm glad it appears we're starting to get the space program back up to where it IMO should be.

Been there long?

5 miles away......you have to hear/see/feel the the launches, no?

thats typically my trick with everything as a bachelor

been down here about 5 years...yeah I catch just about all the launches from my porch. Night launches are the best

Dang, I was maybe in the 7th grade when Alan Sheppard was the first US Astronaut launched in to space. Watched it on TV. Basically he went up and came down. It wasn't until John Glenn a few missions later we went in to earth orbit. Maybe Mercury 3 or 4.

Grissom was Mercury 2, Glenn was 3

Weather is less than ideal for Saturday's SpaceX launch
By Judson Jones, CNN Meteorologist

Updated 12:22 PM ET, Thu May 28, 2020
Meteorologist explains why historic launch was scrubbed


Meteorologist explains why historic launch was scrubbed 03:11
(CNN)Weather again threatens the launch window for a SpaceX rocket to carry NASA astronauts on the first crewed spaceflight to take off from US soil in nearly a decade.

"Saturday and Sunday could turn out to have very similar weather as Wednesday did," CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said, referring to this week's scrubbed launch. "We may be waiting on a game-time decision again this weekend."
The next launch opportunity is Saturday at 3:22 p.m. ET, with a backup window of 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.
But the 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron says the odds do not look favorable. Right now, it forecasts only a 40% chance of favorable conditions for Saturday's attempt.

"The primary concerns are flight through precipitation, as well as the anvil and cumulus cloud rules associated with the afternoon convection," according to the official weather squadron forecast Thursday morning.

There had been a 50/50 chance Wednesday that the weather would clear, and 10 extra minutes might have given the launch team the green light. But the timing had to be just right for a proper rendezvous with the International Space Station.
"Weather is the one thing that we actually cannot control on our missions so unfortunately, it did cause us to scrub today," tweeted NASA.

During this time of the year, it is not uncommon for a sea-breeze along the east coast of Florida to cause pop-up afternoon thunderstorms.

It isn't always easy to forecast precisely where one of these storms will pop up. Still, forecasters can look at the overall pattern to see if conditions present themselves for thunderstorm development.
Check the forecast from CNN's team of meteorologists >>>
This overall pattern is why the weather squadron is giving a 60% chance of unfavorable conditions on Saturday. Within 24 hours of the launch, the forecast models will be detailed enough to give a bit better idea of where the storms will build.
Sunday has rain chances in the forecast as well, albeit a slightly lower chance than on Saturday, Brink said Thursday. The weather squadron also has 40% chance of favorable conditions on Sunday.

Rocket-triggered lightning is a launch hazard
A whole team of meteorologists is on hand from the 45th Space Wing and SpaceX to determine whether the weather will scrub the launch. As on Wednesday, the decision can be made right up to liftoff.
During the NASA broadcast on Wednesday, disappointment was evident as the weather team called it a no-go for launch.
Launch weather officers must be "clear and convinced" that no NASA "criteria are violated in order to give the weather GO call for launch," the 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron states.

For example, lightning in the area will cancel a flight, as will a cloud with a large enough electrical field to produce rocket-triggered lightning. This happens when a giant spark of electricity occurs when a large rocket flies through a strong enough atmospheric electric field.
The electric field needed to induce rocket-triggered lightning is much lower than for natural lightning.

"Either type of lightning could cause serious damage to the rocket and endanger public safety," the weather squadron states.

Forecasters also have to monitor the winds.
If there is a sustained wind of 30 mph or more at 162 feet above the launch pad, the mission will be canceled.
Here's a list of all the weather scenarios that will prevent a launch
The weather squadron also has to monitor the weather downrange because if the Crew Dragon capsule encounters a problem, it needs to have a safe splashdown location.
Earlier this month, NASA had to delay its launch of the Atlas V rocket, US Space Force mission due to Tropical Storm Arthur. It launched the following day after the storm cleared out.
CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray contributed to this report

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/28/weather/florida-weather-spacex-launch-forecast/index.html

SpaceX, NASA to try again for landmark launch of two astronauts from Florida
Launch scheduled for 3:22 p.m. EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Elon Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX was set for a repeat attempt at launching two Americans into orbit on Saturday from Florida for a mission that would mark the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years.

The mission’s first launch try on Wednesday was called off with less than 17 minutes remaining on the countdown clock due to stormy weather around the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

The forecast for Saturday was likewise precarious. Mission managers plan to make an earlier decision on weather hazards in a bid to avoid unnecessarily wearing out the crew with another suit-up and full day of launch preparations.

“Back-to-back wet dress rehearsals” disrupt the astronauts’ sleep cycles, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine told a Friday news conference.

Barring weather or other unforeseen problems, the 24-story-tall SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is due to lift off at 3:22 p.m. EDT, propelling astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aloft on a 19-hour ride to the International Space Station.

They will be carried there inside the newly designed Crew Dragon capsule, making its first flight into orbit with humans aboard.

The launch pad is the same one used by NASA’s final space shuttle flight, piloted by Hurley, in 2011. Since then, NASA astronauts have had to hitch rides into orbit aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.

Bridenstine has said that resuming launches of American astronauts on American-made rockets from U.S. soil is the space agency’s top priority.

For Musk, the launch represents another milestone for the reusable rockets his company pioneered to make spaceflight less costly and frequent. And it would mark the first time that commercially developed space vehicles - owned and operated by a private entity rather than NASA - have carried Americans into orbit.

The last time NASA launched astronauts into space aboard a brand new vehicle was 40 years ago at the start of the shuttle program.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visited the Kennedy Space Center three days ago for the first launch attempt. Trump said he plans to return for Saturday’s retry.

If the mission is scrubbed again, the next launch window would be Sunday afternoon, with weather forecasts appearing somewhat more favorable for that day.

Musk, the South African-born high-tech entrepreneur who made his fortune in Silicon Valley, is also the CEO of electric carmaker and battery manufacturer Tesla Inc. He founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, in 2002.

Hurley, 53, and Behnken, 49, NASA employees under contract to fly with SpaceX, are expected to remain at the space station for several weeks, assisting a short-handed crew aboard the orbital laboratory.

Aerospace giant Boeing Co, producing its own launch system in competition with SpaceX, is expected to fly its CST-100 Starliner vehicle with astronauts aboard for the first time next year. NASA has awarded nearly $8 billion to SpaceX and Boeing combined for development of their rival rockets

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/s...ts-from-florida

On TV today Sat, 11:20a.....launch at a 50% go.

Sunday at a 60% chance go.

Too much electricity in the air from recent storms.

At 11:50a today(Sat).....launch still on.

T-minus, give or take a fraction or 3, 20 mins till....."Liftoff, We Have Liftoff".

America has launched.

Pretty cool to watch.

Nice to have some great news in this country.

Too Cool!

I forgot just how exciting it can be watching a rocket blast off for outer space. I think it's really cool that it is a private/public project as well. It really shows what can be accomplished when we work together, instead of fighting one another.

My friend in Daytona(40 miles) said it rumbled their windows and they could hear it but not see it.

Awesome to think that right now there is another generation of kids feeling like so many of us felt in the 60's!

Onward and upward!

That is some cool tech. I can't wait to see a moon/Mars launch.

Wow. From 40 miles out!!!

Hopefully a lotta little ones/ youngsters saw it.

Yes, men in a space capsule, ridding a rocket into space!

It brought back a lot of memories.

Certainly the space suits have changed...

Yes, big time!

I thought they looked like a French design when the wife commented they look like Oompa Loompas

[img]https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/05/...0&auto=webp[/img]

Pretty cool... boys and I watched all afternoon... cant wait to see them get on the space station tomorrow

j/c

Dragon soon to dock at space station... You can watch live here:

https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html