See other posts from August 2007

There she goes!

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla

2007/08/04 04:26 CDT

Topics:

3--2--1--main engine start

LIFTOFF!

A shining flare...straight up...

Six solids are burning strongly...

Past Mach 1...supersonic!

Solids tapering off...

First stage "performance looking good"

Six solid motors jettisoned!

Three more firing...

T plus 90

Main engine pressures still strong

Now 17 miles altitude (stupid Imperial units)

Approaching solid motor burnout

Three last solids are jettisoned!

Good jettison, all three air-start motors are off the vehicle!

At T+160 seconds, main engine continues to burn well at 34 miles altitude...

At T+195, first stage continues to look good...now a vanishing point of bright light in the dark sky...

"Running right down the center of the range track"...

At T+ 260ish, we have main engine cutoff, referred to as "MECO"...