As the Centaur upper stage and GOES-R spacecraft continue tonight's coast phase, take a look at liftoff earlier from Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. Launch occurred at 6:42 p.m. EST.
Video of Tonight’s Launch
Read Full Post
As the Centaur upper stage and GOES-R spacecraft continue tonight's coast phase, take a look at liftoff earlier from Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. Launch occurred at 6:42 p.m. EST.
The Centaur's engine shutdown as planned to raise the orbit of the GOES-R spacecraft. The Centaur and GOES-R will remain connected through about two orbits of the Earth before the Centaur ignites its engine once more to place GOES-R in a transfer orbit. The next burn will take place at 10:09 p.m. EST. NASA's Launch …
The Centaur's RL10 is burning again to lift the GOES-R spacecraft higher. This burn will last about 5 1/2 minutes. Everything is proceeding as planned.
The Centaur stage will ignite its single engine again at about 7:04 p.m., or about 10 minutes after its first shutdown. The mission is going as planned with the Centaur and GOES-R orbiting at 17,650 mph.
The Centaur's engine shut off as scheduled. The upper stage will conduct two more burns tonight to place GOES-R into a transfer orbit. The spacecraft will use its own propellant later to circularize its orbit for operations.
The Centaur upper stage and GOES-R spacecraft are performing well 10 minutes after launch. Speed is 15,000 mph.
Centaur continues to fire its engine and pick up speed. The rocket and its GOES-R payload are 970 miles down range from the launch site.
The first stage of the Atlas V spent its fuel and separated as planned. The single RL10 engine of the Centaur upper stage is now burning to lift GOES-R faster and higher. Speed is above 12,800 mph.
The Atlas V is moving faster than 10,000 mph and accelerates. First stage burnout coming out.
