Falcon 9's third launch attempt targeted for Monday (5:41pm EST/2:41pm PST)

SpaceFlightNow.com ^ | 02DEC2013 | SFN

[Jack Hydrazine]

After cleaning and replacing engine components, SpaceX is gearing up for another try to launch a Falcon 9 rocket Monday on a crucial mission to deliver the SES 8 commercial television broadcasting satellite to orbit. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad is set for 5:41 p.m. EST/2:41 p.m. PST (2241 GMT), the opening of an 86-minute launch window.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Third try's a charm?

[Farnsworth]

Git er Done!

[Jack Hydrazine]

Let’s see if they can light this candle successfully on their third try.

[Jack Hydrazine]

[jpsb]

The one used in today's launch is the Falcon 9, 5.2m fairing. I don't think the S5 or S9 has ever launched,,, yet.

[Celtic Conservative]

Were the last 2 late aborts with the engines partially throttled up? that would signal the need to clean/ swap out engine components.

CC

[DManA]

Cape Canaveral - I’m so happy that name was resurrected.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Live launch coverage here.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/status.html

http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

http://new.livestream.com/spacex/SES8

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html (in HD)

http://mykalvi.com/spacex-launch-live-streaming-watch-online-ustream-nasa-tv-space-x-falcon-9-rocket-launch-video/

For Apple’s iPhone, iPod and iPad users.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/nasatv_live_iphone.html

For Twitter users you can follow the launch here.
http://twitter.com/spaceflightnow/

[Jack Hydrazine]

Falcon 9 Countdown Timeline
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/countdowntimeline.html

Falcon 9 Launch Timeline
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/launchtimeline.html

SES 8 satellite pics
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/payload/

Mission press kit
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/ses8_presskit.pdf

SES 8 satellite press kit
http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publications/SES-8_Fact.pdf

Falcon 9 v1.1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9_v1.1
http://www.spacex.com/falcon9

SES 8 wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SES-8

[Jack Hydrazine]

[mylife]

"Light it up! Go Team Go!"

[null and void]

Cape Canaveral - I’m so happy that name was resurrected.

Me too, but it never actually went away, the land has always been Cape Canaveral, but the launch facility at Cape Canaveral was called Kennedy Space Center.

I'm still annoyed at my mom for throwing away my Cape Canaveral set during one of our many moves.

[Jack Hydrazine]

While you are waiting feel free to take a tour of the launch site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FlhbMraqxA
19MAY2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaGHbXOBcWc
23MAY2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHVIduoyZX8
27OCT2010

[DManA]

Neat. What was in your Cape Canaveral set?

[Moonman62]

Were the last 2 late aborts with the engines partially throttled up? that would signal the need to clean/ swap out engine components.

There was one abort where the engines were starting to throttle up. The computer aborted when thrust wasn't developed fast enough. The problem was determined to be with the hypergolics (stored outside the rocket) used to light the engines. Any work done on the engines would probably be for cleaning, since the engines weren't at fault.

[Jack Hydrazine]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/007/131128scrub/#.Upy8PeJjGXM

Topped with a television broadcasting satellite, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines and was moments away from liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, but the commercial booster aborted the launch after computers detected the engines were too slow building up thrust.

The countdown marched smoothly toward liftoff Thursday, with the rocket clearing key hurdles that hamstrung Monday’s launch attempt. The Falcon 9 pressurized its propellant tanks, switched to internal power and ignited its nine Merlin 1D first stage engines a few seconds before the appointed launch time.

But the Falcon 9’s computer-controlled countdown sequencer recognized a problem and called off the launch, shutting down the engines after they flashed to life and sent a wave of sound across the Florida rocket base.

The launch was “aborted by autosequence due to slower than expected thrust ramp,” Musk posted on Twitter.

As engineers continued to study the problem, SpaceX elected to restart the countdown to preserve a chance to launch Thursday.

Ultimately, however, SpaceX said they could not get comfortable with the issue in time and ordered another hold with less than a minute left in the day’s second countdown.

“We called manual abort,” Musk tweeted. “Better to be paranoid and wrong. Bringing rocket down to borescope (inspect) engines.”

[Jack Hydrazine]

Do you mean the TEA-TEB igniters weren’t getting the job done?

[null and void]

A couple tin buildings several launch pads some Redstones, a couple Atlas, I think there might have been a Mercury capsule on one of them. It pre-dated our first orbital flight, IIRC.

[Jack Hydrazine]

I tried putting this on the Front Page but it seems to have been taken down. Why is that?

Any way to put it back up there?

[DManA]

Hey, I saw that on Antiques Roadshow. Said it was worth $250,000 to a collector.