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Launch of the Proton-M / EchoStar 21 mission rocket. Photo Credit: Roscosmos
After a delay of nearly one year, International Launch Services (ILS) launched the EchoStar 21 communications satellite atop a Proton-M rocket from Site 81/24 at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Liftoff took place at 11:45 p.m. EDT on June 7 (03:45 GMT on June 8), 2017.
The mission is tasked with delivering the EchoStar 21 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The flight will last slightly more than nine hours, counting from launch until spacecraft separation.
EchoStar 21 has come a long way to get to this point. The project dates back to 2005 when TerreStar Networks, Inc. finished final design reviews for the TerreStar-1 satellite that was launched into space in 2009. The TerraStar-2 spacecraft was ordered in 2006 and was renamed to EchoStar 21 in 2012 when Englewood, Colorado-based company EchoStar acquired all of TerreStar Network’s assets.
PROBLEMS AND DELAYS
An agreement to launch the EchoStar 21 satellite was signed with ILS in May 2013, initially targeting the end of 2015 for liftoff. However, the mission has faced several delays. First, it was postponed to June 2016; however, in May of that year, it was rescheduled to August 29, 2016.
Later, on July 28, it was decided the launch needed to be postponed to October 2016 due to the prolonged investigation into the problem with the Proton-M’s second stage that occurred after the June 9, 2016, liftoff. Then it was rescheduled for December 2016 before being delayed into 2017.
Then in early 2017, problems were discovered with the launch vehicle’s engines, prompting further investigation.
Finally, in late May 2017, a firm launch date of June 7 (June 8 local time) was set. By this time, Proton had experienced its longest delay in its history: about 364 days. The record before this was 247 days in 1966 into 1967
The Proton-M / EchoStar 21 mission rocket on the launch pad. Photo Credit: Roscosmos
PROTON-M
The 190-foot (58-meter) tall Proton-M booster measures some 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) in diameter along its second and third stages. Its first stage has a diameter of 24.3 feet (7.4 meters). The total overall height of the rocket’s three stages is about 138.8 feet (42.3 meters).
The first stage consists of a central tank containing the oxidizer surrounded by six outboard fuel tanks. Each fuel tank also carries one of the six RD‑275M engines that provide power for the first phase of flight. The cylindrical second stage is powered by three RD-0210 engines along with a single RD‑0211 engine.
A single RD-0213 engine and a four-nozzle vernier engine powers the third stage. Guidance, navigation, and control of the Proton-M during operation of the first three stages is carried out by a triple-redundant closed-loop digital avionics system mounted in the third stage.
Topping off the rocket is the Breeze-M upper stage. It is powered by a pump-fed gimbaled main engine. This stage consists of a central core and an auxiliary propellant tank (APT) that is jettisoned in flight after the depletion of its fuel. The stage’s control system includes an onboard computer, a three-axis gyro stabilized platform, and a navigation system
THE MISSION
The countdown that led the Proton-M rocket to the ignition of its engines commenced about 11.5 hours ahead of liftoff. The launch vehicle and its systems were activated about six hours before the launch, enabling fueling operations. The campaign entered its final phase approximately 45 minutes before ignition when final checkouts of all systems were performed and the launch abort system armed.
The last five minutes of the pre-launch phase was the most crucial as the automated countdown sequence began, switching the launch vehicle to internal power. About two minutes before liftoff, propellant tank pressurization took place and engineers had their last opportunity to conduct health checks of the rocket’s Breeze-M upper stage. With all systems declared “go”, the Proton-M ignited its six RD-275M boosters to begin climbing toward space.
Photo Credit: Roscosmos
Maximum dynamic pressure, or max Q, occurred about 62 seconds after liftoff. It was at this point the vehicle endured its maximum stresses.
Stage one and two separated less than a minute later at two minutes after liftoff. The second stage continued burning for about 3.5 minutes before it too cut off and separated.
At this point, the third stage had taken control. It fired at 5 minutes, 26 seconds after liftoff. Nineteen seconds later, the payload fairing jettisoned, revealing the Breeze-M upper stage and the EchoStar 21 satellite.
At 9 minutes, 41 seconds after leaving the launch pad in Baikonur, the third stage cut off and separated from the Breeze-M. About 1.5 minutes after that, it too ignited to finish the climb to orbit.
Fifteen minutes, 32 seconds after liftoff, Breeze-M with EchoStar 21 was in a parking orbit. The first of five burns the upper stage needed to do was complete.
After coasting for 54 minutes, the Breeze-M ignited again and burned for about 18 minutes. This intermediate orbit had a low point of 168 miles (270 kilometers) and a high point of 3,107 miles (5,000 kilometers).
The Breeze-M and EchoStar 21 then coasted again for about two hours before the third upper stage ignition occurred. This burn started 3 hours, 37 minutes, and 36 seconds after liftoff; it continued for just under nine minutes. At its conclusion, the APT jettisoned.
About 1.5 minutes later, the fourth burn started. This seven-minute burn concluded at a mission elapsed time of 3 hours, 47 minutes, 53 seconds.
Coasting again, the Breeze-M upper stage had a five-hour break before its final burn.
That burn occurred 8 hours, 52 minutes, 58 seconds after leaving Baikonur. The primary objective of this 4.5-minute burn was to change the inclination of the vehicle and satellite from 51.5 degrees relative to the equator to just 30.5 degrees. The low point of its orbit was now 1,429 miles (2,300 kilometers) and the high point was 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers).
At 9 hours, 13 minutes mission elapsed time, the EchoStar 21 satellite separated from the Breeze-M.
The 6.8-metric ton EchoStar 21 is based on SSL’s 1300 spacecraft platform and features two deployable solar arrays and a large un furlable reflector.
Once the spacecraft’s onboard propulsion to circularize its orbit, EchoStar 21 will be in a geostationary orbit at the 10.25 degrees East orbital slot where it will provide its services for 15 years.
EchoStar describes the newest addition to its in-orbit fleet as a state-of-the-art S-band satellite designed to provide mobile connectivity throughout Europe.
This was the first ILS Proton launch in 2017 and the 94th ILS Proton launch overall. Additionally, six EchoStar satellites have now been launched by the company atop Proton rockets.
In total, 413 Proton rockets have launched since 1965. Since 2001, 90 Proton-M variants have launched using the Breeze-M upper stage.
This was the third launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2017. The next mission from that spaceport will be the Progress MS-06 cargo ship bound for the International Space Station. It will take to the skies at 5:20 a.m. EDT (09:20 GMT) on June 14, 2017.
The Proton-M / EchoStar 21 mission rocket on the launch pad. Photo Credit: Roscosmos,
Watch Falcon 9 lift off from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A on a space station resupply mission. The rocket’s first stage then returned to land at neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX sent a cargo capsule with nearly 5,500 pounds of experiments and supplies on a three-day trip to the International Space Station on Sunday, firing the automated spaceship through low-hanging clouds and into orbit from the same launch pad where Apollo astronauts began voyages to the moon.
A kerosene-fueled 213-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket powered the cargo freighter into space, soaring on a northeasterly course from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 9:39 a.m. EST (1439 GMT) atop 1.7 million pounds of thrust.
A few minutes later, the first stage booster nailed an on-target landing back at Cape Canaveral in the first such return to the launch base in daylight.
The launch — the first SpaceX has conducted from pad 39A — was timed for the Dragon cargo carrier align its course with the orbital path of the space station.
The historic launch complex, situated about a half-mile (750 meters) from the Atlantic Ocean, was the departure point for 94 missions before Sunday.
Originally constructed in the 1960s for the Apollo moon program, pad 39A hosted 12 Saturn 5 blastoffs on test flights, all of the moon landing missions and the uncrewed launch of NASA’s Skylab space station from 1967 through 1973.
NASA’s fleet of space shuttles launched from the pad 82 times, including the first and last flights of the program in 1981 and 2011.
The launch pad has remained dormant since the last shuttle mission took off July 8, 2011, and SpaceX signed a 20-year lease to take over the facility as a commercially-operated launch complex in 2014.
“It was really awesome to see 39A roar back to life for the first time since the shuttle era, and it was extremely special that this first launch off of 39A was a Dragon mission for NASA heading to the space station,” said Jessica Jensen, a Dragon mission manager who spoke with reporters after Sunday’s launch.
Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Scriptunas Imagem
NASA decided it no longer needed pad 39A after the shuttle’s retirement. Nearby launch pad 39B, previously built for Apollo and shuttle flights, will be home to NASA’s Space Launch System, a government-owned heavy-lift rocket that will launch astronaut crews on deep space expeditions.
“This pad would have just sat here and rusted away in the salt air had we not had the use agreement with SpaceX to continue to enable commercial operations for our nation,” said Bob Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center.
The concrete foundation of pad 39A dates back to the Apollo era of the 1960s, while the 347-foot-tall (106-meter) fixed service structure and lightning tower were emplaced before the first shuttle launch.
“It gives me a little bit of chills when I walk out there and see stuff that’s left over from Apollo,” said Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX’s vice president of flight reliability.
Since SpaceX took over, changes to pad 39A have included the construction of the new rocket hangar outside the south gate to the facility, where space shuttles and Saturn 5 moon rockets arrived on top of tracked crawler-transporters after rollout from the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building.
The hangar can accommodate five Falcon 9 rocket cores at a time, according to SpaceX.
“We’ve taken good care of this pad during the refurbishment and the rebuild,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president, in remarks to reporters at the launch site Friday. “We saved precious things that needed to be saved. We’ve upgraded things to make them usable in the contemporary era. It’s hard to express how excited I am to be here, just two-and-a-half years after we got the lease.”
SpaceX sped the pad to completion after a rocket explosion damaged the company’s other Cape Canaveral launch facility — Complex 40 a few miles to the south — and grounded Falcon 9 flights until the booster returned to service last month in a mission from California.
Other additions at the pad include the installation of RP-1 kerosene fuel tanks and the construction of the massive transporter-erector, which is sized to accommodate SpaceX’s powerful triple-body Falcon Heavy rocket when it debuts later this year.
An access arm to allow astronauts to board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, a human-rated ship in development to launch people as soon as next year, will be added to pad 39A in the coming months.
SpaceX tested many of the launch pad’s new parts Feb. 12 during a countdown rehearsal in which the Falcon 9 rocket was fueled before a hold-down engine firing.
Engineers returned the two-stage launcher to SpaceX’s hangar, added the Dragon spacecraft, then rolled the fully-assembled vehicle back to the pad Thursday for further tests and the loading of final cargo.
But some features of the launch pad — like the quick partial retraction of the transporter-erector “strongback” umbilical tower at liftoff — were not been exercised until Sunday.
“This is a huge deal for us,” Jensen said. “We completely modernized the way the pad is built, so yeah, it’s super exciting, and you’re always a little bit nervous. We’ve run tons of tests to ensure that the hold-downs released properly, and the strongback throws back in a different way than it used to at pad 40.
“We’ve had tons of ground tests, but we’ve never mated an actual rocket with a payload on top for that,” she added. “So to watch it happen for the first time was just amazing.”
The mission’s takeoff was delayed from Saturday after SpaceX managers ordered a last-minute abort to investigate unexpected readings from the Falcon 9 upper stage engine’s backup steering mechanism.
Ground crews lowered the rocket at pad 39A overnight to replace parts of a redundant actuator on the second stage’s Merlin engine thrust vector control system, which directs the powerplant’s thrust to point the launcher in the right direction.
The rocket was raised upright again around six hours before launch, and the SpaceX launch team, working from a control center around 13 miles (21 kilometers) to the south, oversaw filling of the Falcon 9 with super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants in the final hour of the countdown.
Scattered rain showers around the Kennedy Space Center threatened to hold up the launch, but all weather criteria toggled “green” in time for the day’s instantaneous launch opportunity.
Eight minutes after it blasted off, the Falcon 9’s first stage booster made a dramatic vertical landing at a recovery site around 9 miles (15 kilometers) south of pad 39A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the first time a SpaceX rocket has touched down on land in daylight.
An overcast deck of clouds prohibited ideal viewing of the launch and return, but the rocket’s nine Merlin engines sent a wave of window-rattling sound across the spaceport on the trip up, and twin sonic booms heralded the booster’s final descent as it became visible to spectators just before touchdown.
SpaceX plans to inspect the landed rocket and prepare it for another flight some time in the future. The company now has eight flown first stage boosters in its inventory, recovered after landings at Cape Canaveral and at sea. Seven of those are considered flight-worthy, according to Jensen.
The SES 10 satellite, a commercial broadcasting spacecraft, is in Cape Canaveral preparing for a launch on a Falcon 9 rocket in March that will fly with a previously-used first stage booster for the first time.
Once in orbit, the Dragon supply freighter unfurled two power-generating solar array wings to a span of 54 feet (16 meters). The spacecraft was scheduled to open a navigation bay later Sunday and fine-tune its course toward the space station with a series of thruster firings ahead of its arrival at the outpost early Wednesday.
French-born European Space Agency flight engineer Thomas Pesquet will grapple the approaching cargo craft around 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT) Wednesday with the space station’s robotic arm after the automated ship flies within about 30 feet, or 10 meters, of the research complex.
The Canadian-built robot arm, under the command of ground controllers in Houston, will transfer the gumdrop-shaped logistics freighter to a berthing port on the station’s Harmony module a few hours later.
Once bolts drive closed to firmly connect the SpaceX cargo craft to the space station, astronauts inside the orbiting science lab will open hatches and begin unpacking the 3,373 pounds (1,530 kilograms) of supplies, experiments and provisions inside.
Meanwhile, the robot arm and the station’s two-armed Dextre handyman will remove three payloads — totaling more than 2,100 pounds (more than 950 kilograms) — from the Dragon’s unpressurized trunk for placement on platforms on the outpost’s huge structural truss.
The Dragon spaceship deploys from the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage in orbit. Three unpressurized payloads are seen inside the Dragon capsule’s trunk. Credit: SpaceX
One of the payloads is NASA’s $92 million Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment 3, or SAGE 3, an ozone monitor that comes with a separate ESA-built “hexapod” mounting plate designed to point the instrument at Earth’s limb, or horizon, at sunset and moonset.
The sunlight and moonlight passing through the layers of the upper atmosphere will help tell scientists about the condition of the ozone layer and allow researchers to track pollutants and particles suspended high above Earth.
SAGE 3, developed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, is the latest in a series of ozone measurement sensors developed by NASA since 1979. Previous space missions studying ozone showed a decline in the distribution of the gas over Earth’s poles, and researchers tied the ozone depletion to chlorofluorocarbon, a chemical used in cleaning agents, refrigeration and air conditioning.
An international treaty called the Montreal Protocol that went into force in 1989 banned chlorofluorocarbons, and scientists have observed the depletion stop and watched the ozone layer begin to recover.
“How does SAGE 3 fit into that? We’re going to make measurements from the space station that show the recovery is on track,” said Michael Cisewski, SAGE 3 project manager at NASA. “I think that, from a science perspective, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
“SAGE 3 will also measure other important stratospheric gases and atmospheric aerosols, which are components of pollution that also impact the radiation balance of our planet,” said Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth science division.
The other experiment package carried inside the Dragon capsule’s external bay is sponsored by the U.S. military’s Space Test Program, hosting more than a dozen investigations for NASA and the Defense Department.
Among STP-H5’s investigations are NASA’s Raven autonomous space navigation demonstration designed to support future satellite servicing missions and NASA’s Lightning Imaging Sensor.
The Raven payload is made up of three sensors — optical, infrared and laser trackers — to autonomously follow visiting cargo vessels arriving and departing from the space station.
The Raven payload seen before launch. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Benjamin Reed, deputy director of NASA’s satellite servicing program at Goddard Space Flight Center, called Raven a “three-eyed” instrument.
“The Raven module will be observing visiting vehicles as they approach in all three wavelengths,” Reed said. “We will be generating range, bearing and pose estimates of those visiting vehicles on-board with sophisticated algorithms and on-board processing, based on the input that the sensors are receiving.”
Raven is a follow-up to a NASA experiment that tried out satellite refueling techniques using a boilerplate test panel outside the space station.
The satellite servicing demonstrations will refine the technologies needed for future robotic missions to refuel, refurbish, upgrade and reposition satellites, beginning with NASA’s Restore-L spacecraft in development for launch in 2020 to gas up the aging Landsat 7 environmental observatory in orbit.
Raven will try out the navigation equipment needed for Restore-L, and missions like it, to approach another object in orbit without any input from the ground and latch on to it, even if the target was never designed for a docking.
Landsat 7 was launched in 1999 before any such refueling mission was ever proposed, so it is not equipped with markings or a docking port.
“These technologies are quite difficult, and that is why NASA is taking the lead, pushing the envelope, (and) doing the hard work first,” Reed said. “Once we have developed it on missions like Raven, we will then transfer that technology to U.S. industry that is interested in taking this on commercially.”
The Lightning Imaging Sensor, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in partnership with the University of Alabama in Huntsville, will take pictures and log lightning strikes from the space station’s perch nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth.
Based on a spare camera made for the U.S.-Japanese Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, the instrument cost $7 million to refurbish and will detect lightning day and night in a belt between 56 degrees north and south latitude.
“Lightning actually occurs somewhere on Earth some 45 times every single second,” Freilich said. “Understanding the processes which cause lighting and the connections between lightning and subsequent severe weather events like convective storms and tornadoes … are keys to improving weather predictions and saving lives and property in this country and throughout the globe.”
A bevy of biological experiments are packed inside the Dragon supply ship.
Scientists are sending 40 mice into orbit to examine how bone fractures heal in the absence of gravity, and search for the biological reasons why most animals, including humans, cannot regrow lost limbs.
“We’re trying to understand what happens in the body as the bones start healing,” said Rasha Hammamieh, the rodent research project’s chief scientist from the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research.
The military is co-sponsoring the bone health experiment, with an eye toward learning lessons that could be applied to helping injured soldiers recover from catastrophic bone injuries.
There are also implications for civilians, such as elderly patients with osteoporosis.
“Up in space, you lose bone,” said Melissa Kacena, co-investigator for the bone experiment and an associate professor of orthopedic surgery, anatomy and cell biology, and biomedical engineering at Indiana University. “In fact, astronauts lose about 1 to 3 percent of their bone density in a month. Someone with advanced osteoporosis loses closer to 1 percent per year.”
Kacena added that scientists want to test drugs on rodents that might be able to “rebuild your bone systematically, so it could have applications not only for bone healing, but also for osteoporosis.”
Astronauts on the space station will euthanize the mice and return them to Earth for comparison with a control group that remained on the ground.
Bacterial and stem cell researchers also had a stake in Sunday’s launch.
“We are excited to put MRSA, which is a superbug, on the International Space Station and investigate the effects of microgravity on the growth and mutation patterns of these bugs,” said Anita Goel, chairman and science director of Nanobiosym, which developed the experiment with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space.
“I have this hypothesis that microgravity will accelerate the mutation patterns. If we can use microgravity as an accelerator to fast forward and get a sneak preview of what these mutations will look like, then we can esssentially build smarter drugs back on Earth.”
A science team led by a Mayo Clinic biologist is sending human adult stem cells to the space station, pursuing research that could help transplant patients and stroke victims.
“We know stem cells grow differently using simulated microgravity,” said Abba Zubair, medical and scientific director of the Cell Therapy Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. “Primarily, our focus is to see if microgravity actually can help stem cells to expand faster, so that we can grow more of them to bring back to use for human application.”
The Dragon spaceship will remain at the space station until around March 21, when it will detach and head for a re-entry and parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, where SpaceX will safe the capsule, transfer it back to port, and begin removing the returned cargo.
The resupply mission is SpaceX’s tenth cargo launch to the space station. The company has two multibillion-dollar cargo contracts with NASA covering at least 26 round-trip missions.
SpaceX’s next launch is scheduled within the next two weeks — perhaps as soon as Feb. 28 — with the EchoStar 23 communications satellite. That flight will also blast off from pad 39A.
Rocket/Payload:A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 will launch the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) GEO Flight 3 mission for the U.S. Air Force.
Date/Site/Launch Time:Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The 40-minute launch window opens at 7:42 p.m. EST.
Live Broadcast: Tune in to ULA’s live launch day broadcast beginning at 7:22 p.m. EST.
Launch Notes: SBIRS GEO Flight 3 will be ULA’s first launch of 2017 and the 69th Atlas V mission overall.
This mission marks the 34th Atlas V mission in the 401 configuration; the two previous SBIRS GEO missions also launched on the Atlas V 401 rocket.
Mission Description: SBIRS, considered one of the nation's highest priority space programs, is designed to provide global, persistent, infrared surveillance capabilities to meet 21st century demands in four national security mission areas including: missile warning, missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness.
L-minus 5 hours: Preview tonight's #SBIRSGEO3 launch with a look back to SBIRS GEO 2 and its successful deployment 3 years ago (ULA video) pic.twitter.com/bbnAzX9Jpx
L-minus 6 hours: Fly around Complex 41 where the Atlas 5 rocket stands poised to launch #SBIRSGEO3 at 7:42pmEST (0042 GMT) (ULA video) pic.twitter.com/N2yIckz6rm
VIDEO: Range stops tonight's Atlas 5 #SBIRSGEO3 countdown at the end of the launch window due to aircraft in restricted airspace. pic.twitter.com/vJTyK7TBvZ
The next Delta 4 launch is planned for March from Cape Canaveral. It will be the mission to launch the Air Force's Wideband Global SATCOM 9 communications satellite into orbit using the same type of rocket used tonight -- the Medium+ vehicle with four strap-on solid boosters.
United Launch Alliance's next mission is just eight days away. That is when an Atlas 5 rocket will launch the commercial EchoStar 19 broadband satellite from the Cape. Launch is planned for Dec. 16 at 1:26 p.m. EST (1826 GMT).
12/04/2016 11:53 WEATHER: Favorable forecast for Wednesday's Delta 4 launch from Florida
CAPE CANAVERAL -- Air Force meteorologists are expecting good weather to launch the Delta 4 rocket with a military communications satellite Wednesday evening from Cape Canaveral. Read our ful story.
12/05/2016 20:23 PREVIEW: Upgraded satellite for communications among U.S. military forces to launch
CAPE CANAVERAL -- The backbone of the U.S. military's global communications network, relied upon by soldiers, ships, jets, aerial drones and allied nations around the world, will receive a new satellite with unprecedented capacity following its launch Wednesday atop a Delta 4 rocket. Read our launch preview story
Follow the Delta 4 rocket's ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral's Complex 37 launch pad with the U.S. Air Force's WGS 8 communications satellite. Liftoff is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:53 p.m. EST. See the timeline
12/06/2016 15:08 LRR: Final readiness review clears Delta 4 and WGS 8 for launch
Sporting upgraded internal electronics to provide 90 percent more capacity than its sister-satellites, the U.S. military's eighth Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite will be launched into space Wednesday aboard a Delta 4 rocket.
The United Launch Alliance vehicle is scheduled for liftoff at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) from Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral. The evening's launch window will remain open for 49 minutes.
If the launch slips to Thursday evening for some reason, the launch window moves one minute later.
Government and contractor managers convened the Launch Readiness Review today to assess preparations for the mission and granted approval to enter into the countdown on Wednesday as planned.
The mobile service tower will be rolled back from the 217-foot-tall rocket shortly before noon EST and fueling operations will commence at 2:30 p.m. EST.
We will have complete live play-by-play coverage of the count and launch on this page, as well as a webcast of liftoff
A reminder that if you will be away from your computer but would like to receive countdown updates, sign up for our Twitter feed to get text messages on your cellphone. U.S. readers can also sign up from their phone by texting "follow spaceflightnow" to 40404. (Standard text messaging charges apply.)
WGS 8 will join the growing constellation of WGS satellites in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth that provide global communications coverage to the U.S. military and allies.
The $426 million satellite furthers bolsters the primary communications network that provides "anytime, anywhere" connectivity to soldiers, ships, aircraft and unmanned drones.
"Warfighters use WGS for tactical communications, performing numerous military operations (and) humanitarian missions," said Thomas Becht, civilian deputy director and business manager for the Air Force's Military Satellite Communications Systems Directorate at the Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles.
Boeing is the builder of the WGS fleet and ULA has launched all of the craft to date. The final two in the series will be deployed by the end of 2018.
WGS 8 carries the first Wideband Digital Channelizer at the heart of its communications package, essentially doubles the available capacity as compared previous WGS satellites.
"It's an additional satellite, so 1/8th of the constellation, plus the satellite has nearly twice as much capacity as the previous ones," said Charlotte Gerhart, the Air Force's WGS 8 program manager.
This will be the 34th Delta 4 rocket launch since 2002 and the 28th Delta 4 to fly from Cape Canaveral.
The two-stage rocket was processed in the Horizontal Integration Facility, then rolled to the pad. It was hydraulically raised into the vertical position atop the launch table on Oct. 18.
A countdown dress rehearsal and fueling exercise occurred on Nov. 16 and the payload, already encapsulated in the rocket's five-meter nose cone, was transported to the pad for mating with the rocket on Nov. 21.
Weather forecasters give an 80 percent chance of acceptable launch conditions. Clouds too thick to safely fly through are the only concern threatening the weather rules.
12/07/2016 13:14
Tower rollback is underway at Complex 37 to reveal the 217-foot-tall Delta 4 rocket for tonight's launch.
12/07/2016 13:40 Gantry rolled back for launch
The 330-foot tall mobile service tower has been retracted at Cape Canaveral's pad 37B for this evening's launch of the Delta 4 rocket that will place the Wideband Global SATCOM satellite No. 8 into space for the Air Force.
The wheeled structure moved along rail tracks to its launch position about the length of a football field away from the rocket. The 9-million pound tower shielded the Delta from the elements during the its stay on the pad, provided workers 360-degree access to the various areas on the vehicle and was used to attach the solid rocket boosters and payload during the launch campaign. The tower is 90 feet wide and 40 feet deep.
Crews will spend the next couple of hours securing the complex for launch before leaving the danger area around the pad. All workers must be clear of the area for the start of hazardous operations in the countdown, which include fueling the Delta 4's first and second stages with supercold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants
Testing of communications links between the rocket and Air Force Eastern Range will occur after fueling is accomplished. Steering checks of the RS-68A engine and upper stage RL10B-2 powerplant are on tap in the last hour of the count.
A build-in hold is slated for T-minus 4 minutes, during which time teams will go through final polling to grant clearance to launch. The Delta 4 will transition to internal power as the count resumes, ordnance will be armed and the propellant tanks pressurized as clocks target the main engine ignition time at T-minus 5 seconds.
Liftoff remains scheduled for 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT).
"This launch will significantly enhance the WGS constellation, providing vital wideband communications anytime, anywhere to U.S. warfighters and our international partners through broadcast, multicast and point to point connections," said Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, Space and Missile Systems Center commander and Air Force program executive officer for Space.
"WGS 8 maintains the core capability to support X- and Ka-band communications simultaneously, while also increasing communication capacity."
The satellite will be operated in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above Earth to provide communications to all branches of the U.S. military and some allied nations.
"The demand for ever-increasing reliable and secure satellite communications has been at the forefront of the WGS mission," said Greaves. "WGS provides communication connectivity across all mission areas, including air, land and naval warfare."
12/07/2016 14:42
The rocket's guidance system is being turned on and tested for launch.
12/07/2016 14:53 L-6 hours
Now 6 hours till launch. The countdown is proceeding well and the launch team is not reporting any issues. A full weather briefing to mission managers will occur in about an hour.
12/07/2016 14:59 Launch events preview
12/07/2016 15:18 Photos: Delta 4 and WGS 8 ready to fly
Some shots of the vehicle taken a little while ago during tower rollback. Credit: Alex Polimeni
12/07/2016 15:43 Weather forecast still 80% GO
In the pre-fueling weather update, all conditions are favorable at Cape Canaveral for liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket.
The odds of acceptable weather for an on-time launch this evening at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) are 80 percent. A cloud thickness violation is the only concern, but those conditions are not expected until early tomorrow. The worry is if the clouds move in early.
12/07/2016 15:48
At the launch pad, clearing of personnel is underway in preparation for the start of fueling operations this afternoon and liftoff at 6:53 p.m. EST.
12/07/2016 15:53 Countdown in built-in hold
T-minus 4 hours, 15 minutes and holding. The countdown has entered a 15-minute-long built-in hold, a pre-planned pause designed to give the team time to catch up on any work that could be running behind schedule. Once the clocks resume ticking, the main countdown for this evening's launch operation will begin.
12/07/2016 16:04
The launch team is reporting on station for the start of fueling operations. Some 170,000 gallons of cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen will be loaded today.
12/07/2016 16:07
Team is GO to begin fueling operations.
12/07/2016 16:08 Countdown has resumed
T-minus 4 hours, 15 minutes and counting. The team is ready for cryogenic fueling as the countdown is underway for today's opportunity to launch the Delta 4 rocket with the Wideband Global SATCOM satellite.
A final planned hold is scheduled into the countdown at the T-minus 4 minute mark.
Liftoff remains targeted for 6:53 p.m. EST.
12/07/2016 16:33 Fueling ops underway
A "go" has been given to start the cold gas chilldown conditioning of the liquid hydrogen system. This is the precursor to filling the vehicle with propellant.
12/07/2016 16:47 MST rollback gallery
A photo gallery of today's gantry rollback for the Delta 4 rocket launch is posted here.
(ULA pic)
12/07/2016 17:03 CBC LH2 tanking begins
The cold gas chilldown conditioning of the liquid hydrogen system has been accomplished. Liquid hydrogen propellant will begin to flow into the Common Booster Core in "slow-fill" mode. That is sped up to "fast-fill" after a small portion of the tank is loaded.
Chilled to Minus-423 degrees Fahrenheit, the liquid hydrogen will be consumed by the RS-68A main engine along with liquid oxygen during the first four minutes of the launch.
12/07/2016 17:08 CBC LOX chilldown
And now the chilldown of the liquid oxygen system on Delta's Common Booster Core is starting. This preps the tank and pumping to guard against shock when the supercold oxidizer begins flowing into the rocket a short time from now. The first stage will be loaded with 40,000 gallons of supercold LOX.
12/07/2016 17:10
Liquid hydrogen flow is confirmed. About 110,000 gallons of LH2 will fill the rocket's first stage.
Still targeting 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) for launch today.
12/07/2016 17:20 Upper stage LH2 chilldown
The launch team is preparing to start fueling the Delta 4 rocket's upper stage. And with that the "go" has been given to start the chilldown conditioning of the upper stage liquid hydrogen system.
12/07/2016 17:21
CBC liquid hydrogen tanking operation is switching from "slow-fill" to "fast-fill" mode.
12/07/2016 17:27 CBC LOX tanking
The CBC liquid oxygen chilldown is complete. "Slow-fill" mode is beginning to load a small percentage of the tank. The process then speeds up to the "fast-fill" mode until the tank is nearly full.
12/07/2016 17:33
SMC Commander @SMC_CC
A beautiful sight. #DeltaIV WGS-8 satellite on the pad and proceeding toward 1853ET launch today. @ulalaunch @45thSpaceWing @AF_SMC
3:26 PM - 7 Dec 2016
43 43 Retweets 67 67 likes
12/07/2016 17:38
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Tory Bruno ✔ @torybruno
Mission coin
10:19 PM - 6 Dec 2016
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12/07/2016 17:43
CBC liquid oxygen tanking operation is switching from "slow-fill" to "fast-fill" mode.
12/07/2016 17:43 Upper stage LOX chilldown
The "go" has been given for the upper stage liquid oxygen chilldown in advance of filling that tank.
12/07/2016 17:47 Upper stage LH2 tanking
After chilldown of the upper stage liquid hydrogen system, the clear was given for loading the rocket's tank with 14,000 gallons. The launch team is actively filling the upper stage's liquid hydrogen tank with propellant for the RL10 engine.
12/07/2016 17:53 L-3 hours
Now three hours till launch. The Delta 4 rocket is being loaded with supercold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as the countdown rolls on for launch at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT).
Complex 37 has two giant sphere-shaped fuel tanks to store the cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The LOX tank holds 250,000 gallons and LH2 sphere about 850,000 gallons.
The cryogenics are fed from the storage tanks through pipelines to the pad. For the Common Booster Core, the propellants are routed up to the launch table upon which the rocket sits. Tail service masts, the large box-like structures at the base of the vehicle, feed the oxygen and hydrogen to the booster via separate umbilicals.
The upper stage receives its cryos from the middle swing arm that extends from the Fixed Umbilical Tower to the front-side of the rocket.
12/07/2016 17:59 Upper stage LOX tanking
Chilldown of the upper stage liquid oxygen system is complete for loading the rocket's tank with 6,000 gallons of supercold LOX.
This is the last of the rocket's four cryogenic supplies to be filled in today's countdown to launch.
12/07/2016 18:12 CBC LH2 loaded
Fast-filling of the CBC liquid hydrogen tank has completed. After post-filling checks and valve tests, the tank will be placed in topping mode. The launch team will confirm the propellant is conditioned for flight.
12/07/2016 18:18 CBC LOX loaded
The CBC liquid oxygen loading just finished. The tank has been loaded with its supercold oxidizer that is chilled to Minus-298 degrees F. Topping will be completed as the count rolls on.
12/07/2016 18:52 Upper stage LOX loaded
Loading of the upper stage liquid oxygen tank has been accomplished.
12/07/2016 18:52 L-2 hours
Two hours and counting! Still targeting 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) for launch tonight.
This is the 8th satellite for the Wideband Global SATCOM military communications network that began launching in 2007. WGS is the backbone of the Defense Department's information grid that spans the world.
12/07/2016 19:04 Upper stage LH2 loaded
The vehicle is fully fueled! Loading of the upper stage liquid hydrogen tank has been accomplished as fueling wraps up this evening at Complex 37.
The 900,000-pound rocket stands fueled and ready for launch at 6:53 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
12/07/2016 19:33 L-80 minutes
Now entering into the final 80 minutes of the countdown to launch of Delta 376 and the eighth Wideband Global SATCOM military communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force.
All is quiet in the launch control room, activities are on schedule and the team is not reporting any technical concerns.
12/07/2016 19:37
The flight slews and commanding tests for the vehicle steering systems are being performed. The Common Booster Core, the strap-on solid rocket motors and upper stage engine nozzle steering checks are being run through pre-launch test patterns.
12/07/2016 19:45
Steering checks are complete
12/07/2016 19:53 L-60 minutes
Now entering the final 60 minutes until the Delta 4 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT). Here's a look at some stats about the mission. This will be:
The 376th Delta rocket launch since 1960
The 34th Delta 4 rocket mission since 2002
The 6th Medium+ (5,4) configuration to fly
The 52nd main engine from RS-68 family used
The 10th RS-68A main engine flown
The 52nd-53rd-54th-55th GEM-60 solid rocket motors flown
The 475th production RL10 engine to be launched
The 37th RL10B-2 engine launche
The 28th Delta 4 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral
The 36th launch from Pad B at Complex 37
The 19th use of Delta 4 by the Air Force
The 101st Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle flight
The 114th United Launch Alliance mission since 2006
Thu, Nov 17 2016 9:30 AM ART — Thu, Nov 17 2016 3:00 PM ART
About
Two flagship European space programmes will combine on 17 November, as four Galileo navigation satellites are carried into orbit by an Ariane 5 rocket for the first time. Liftoff of Ariane flight VA233 is scheduled for 13:06 GMT (14:06 CET, 10:06 local time) on Thursday. The first Livestream transmission is scheduled for 12:36–13:29 GMT (13.36–14.29 CET), covering the liftoff, ascent and first phases of flight. There will be a follow-up Livestream transmission at 16:30–17:45 GMT (17.30–18.45 CET), to cover the satellite separations and confirmation of success.
European Space Agency
Galileo system status
Next Thursday 17 November at 10.06 Kourou Time/14.06 CET an Ariane 5 will launch Galileo satellites for the first time. Equipped with a specially designed dispenser, the European launcher will deploy four satellites: Galileo Sat 15,16,17 and 18. This video explains the current status of the Galileo system. It includes an interview with Paul Verhoef, ESA Navigation Programme Director.
Live coverage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight to deploy the WorldView 4 imaging satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
LRR: Countdown clocks will begin ticking in the middle-of-the-night Friday morning to ready an Atlas 5 rocket at America's western spaceport to launch a commercial Earth-imagery observatory.
The Launch Readiness Review today formally gave approval to proceed into countdown operations at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to deploy the WorldView 4 satellite for DigitalGlobe.
Friday's liftoff is targeted for 10:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. EST; 1830 GMT) at the opening of a 15-minute launch opportunity.
A live launch webcast can be viewed on this page.
Air Force meteorologists, as of this morning, now give 90 percent odds that the weather will allow the launch to occur. High pressure has been dominant over the region for the past several days, keeping a weather system to the northwest. At launch time Friday, the forecast calls for mostly clear skies with just some high-level cirrus, light south‐southeasterly winds of 5 to 8 knots and temperatures between 67 and 72 degrees F.
"Team V is thrilled to be launching again following the devastating wildfires we experienced in September. We are excited to launch the Atlas 5 WorldView 4 mission from Vandenberg's Western Range and are looking forward to a safe and successful mission," said Col. Chris Moss, 30th Space Wing commander at Vandenberg and the launch decision authority.
It will be the 12th Atlas 5 to fly from Vandenberg.
The launch countdown begins at 2:30 a.m. local time for the start of an eight-hour sequence to prepare the launch pad and rocket for flight.
This is United Launch Alliance's 112th flight, the 9th just this year, and the company's 19th for a commercial client.
