SCRUBBED: How to watch the historic SpaceX/NASA launch today!

Awww scrubbed huh… when’s the next one? Didn’t they say the 30th?

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My daughter is suited up in her Nasa jumpsuit and ready to watch the launch!

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Launch aborted. Meh.

Le crap. Mucho lightning?

Yep, Saturday is the backup day. Currently a 40% 60% chance of good weather for that day, so fingers crossed.

(Edit: the 40% was probability of scrub on Saturday, not launch)

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I couldn’t see any lightning. I think the worry was probably the weather further out to sea? You need it calm there in case they have to abort and retrieve the capsule.

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I’m just waiting to see if space cadet musk calls the weather ‘pedo guy’ in a tweet.

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Yeah, no. Probably not. Three day forcast should have a good confidence interval nowadays.

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Look, sometimes you gotta make concessions in the name of fashion while you fly through the vacuum in your cool space-jacket as the space-wind gently blows through your space-hair.

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This^^^
My first thought, on seeing this new cockpit design, was “damn, that’s slick - almost roomy as far as space capsules go”.
Then they got to the touch screens… in heavy space gloves, no less
What. Could. Possibly. Go. Wrong?
ETA: I mean, just typing this on my Samsung touchscreen, I had to correct too many typos due to my fat fingers without gloves on!

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Anyone know why they can’t hold on the pad for 30-60 minutes to wait for the storm to pass? It’s not like the ISS is going anywhere.

It actually is, at a speed of 4.76 miles per second relative to the ground.

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Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay,okay, okay… :relaxed:

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As I understand it, all of the manual operations that would be needed in the event that the automated systems fail are supplemented by the mechanical switches and controls located beneath the glitzy panels. Otherwise, the capsule is designed to fly itself and the touchscreen displays are primarily informational.

I’m inclined to believe the range weather crew when they say there’s a 60% chance of favorable conditions. It may still scrub, but I doubt they’d be going through all of the rigamarole (not to mention expense) of another attempt if things looked utterly dismal.

Actually it is going somewhere, at 17,500 miles per hour in a pretty eccentric orbit relative to the equator. 30-60 minutes of hold would put the station in a VERY different orientation, and require a complete retargeting of the flight trajectory. Also, they explained on the livestream that the F9’s performance characteristics are tuned to launching immediately after the tanks are filled with propellant and oxydizer. A hold while the tanks are full would result in the liquid O2 warming up and thus reducing the performance of the rocket. Essentially, any hold once the tanks are filling requires a full drain-and-refill of the fuel tanks to ensure good performance, which is at least 90 minutes of baked-in delay.

tl;dr, rendevous waits for no crew.

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From what I understand, it was apparently, a “Hard Launch Window” that could not be postponed and still keep emergency protocols and escape (Earth) trajectory.

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Thanks for the explanation. I just got home to watch about the last 20 minutes of coverage before the mission was scrubbed.

Maybe that’s not the greatest idea considering that the launch site is Florida, where from May-Sept you have maybe a 30-40 percent chance of cu-nims pretty much every single day.

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Well, it’s worked okay for all of their non-crewed resupply missions thus far… :wink:

Such is the price of using near-equatorial rotation speed to lessen the fuel-to-orbit cost.

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Shoulda put this in my first reply

Now that doesn’t sound like roc… (oops) It seems to me that in the Gemini/Agena days and the CSM/LM days, the flight controllers and crews had the capability to rework trajectories as needed even with their bronze age computers and slide rules. And it also seems to me that some shuttle launches to the ISS had pre-launch unscheduled holds, but I could be wrong about that.

Yeah, but the Gemini missions just needed to get the thing into orbit—they didn’t need to meet anybody there. The former problem is like trying to merge your car onto an empty highway. The latter is like trying to intercept a passing bus like Keanu Reeves in Speed.

ETA: Correction, Gemini did have space-docking. But meeting another craft in orbit means getting into orbit at a very specific time, especially if the craft you’re meeting has an eccentric orbit.

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Ahem.

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