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LIVE: NASA Launch of Parker Solar Probe (3:30AM ET)
NASA ^ | 10-12-2018 | NASA

Posted on 08/12/2018 12:15:42 AM PDT by Textide

Live thread for the launch of the Parker Solar Probe at 3:30AM ET.

NASA TV

Parker Solar Probe: NASA web page


TOPICS: Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: astronomy; electricuniverse; nasa; parkersolarprobe; science
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From NASA....

Why do we study the Sun and the solar wind?

The Sun is the only star we can study up close. By studying this star we live with, we learn more about stars throughout the universe.

The Sun is a source of light and heat for life on Earth. The more we know about it, the more we can understand how life on Earth developed.

The Sun also affects Earth in less familiar ways. It is the source of the solar wind; a flow of ionized gases from the Sun that streams past Earth at speeds of more than 500 km per second (a million miles per hour).

Disturbances in the solar wind shake Earth's magnetic field and pump energy into the radiation belts, part of a set of changes in near-Earth space known as space weather.

Space weather can change the orbits of satellites, shorten their lifetimes, or interfere with onboard electronics. The more we learn about what causes space weather – and how to predict it – the more we can protect the satellites we depend on.

The solar wind also fills up much of the solar system, dominating the space environment far past Earth. As we send spacecraft and astronauts further and further from home, we must understand this space environment just as early seafarers needed to understand the ocean.

1 posted on 08/12/2018 12:15:42 AM PDT by Textide
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To: Textide

2 posted on 08/12/2018 12:17:09 AM PDT by Textide (Lord, grant that I may always be right, for thou knowest I am hard to turn. ~ Scotch-Irish prayer)
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To: Textide

95% probability of liftoff.


3 posted on 08/12/2018 12:17:34 AM PDT by Textide (Lord, grant that I may always be right, for thou knowest I am hard to turn. ~ Scotch-Irish prayer)
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To: Textide

Second time’s a charm.


4 posted on 08/12/2018 12:19:09 AM PDT by Dagnabitt
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To: Dagnabitt

Polling responses all “Go”!


5 posted on 08/12/2018 12:26:52 AM PDT by Textide (Lord, grant that I may always be right, for thou knowest I am hard to turn. ~ Scotch-Irish prayer)
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To: Textide

Go for launch


6 posted on 08/12/2018 12:31:53 AM PDT by Dagnabitt
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To: Textide

Looking good so far. Boosters jettisoned.


7 posted on 08/12/2018 12:36:59 AM PDT by radu (God bless our military men and women, past and present)
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To: radu

Pretty launch. Have gotten spoiled by the SpaceX cameras, but it was nice that they followed it through the booster separations.


8 posted on 08/12/2018 12:45:37 AM PDT by Textide (Lord, grant that I may always be right, for thou knowest I am hard to turn. ~ Scotch-Irish prayer)
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To: Textide

It was a pretty launch. Thanks for posting the links!

NASA was “it” when I grew up and I’ve had friends who worked for them over the years and Dad’s job entailed testing with several of their programs. This feel like “home” tonight. :-)


9 posted on 08/12/2018 12:54:03 AM PDT by radu (God bless our military men and women, past and present)
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To: radu


wow. how many people read about a space shot on FR, then 30 seconds later locate their binoculars, step into the back yard, and watch a rocket going to the sun.

in the '80s my family and I rode a NASA tour bus across Pad A, Launch Complex 39, the launch site of Apollo 11.

a tiny bite of history.


10 posted on 08/12/2018 1:00:03 AM PDT by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: 867V309

Lucky you! One thing I’ve never had the pleasure of doing is seeing a launch in person, even through binoculars.

And what a cool bus tour. My blue eyes are green with envy.


11 posted on 08/12/2018 1:09:38 AM PDT by radu (God bless our military men and women, past and present)
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To: Textide

I like how the rocket looks like it’s catching fire before it lifts off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dm4WUx7z1A


12 posted on 08/12/2018 1:35:57 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Give a man a fish and he'll be a Democrat. Teach a man to fish and he'll be a responsible citizen.)
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To: Moonman62

Thanks for the link to video! Really beautiful liftoff that I’m saving.


13 posted on 08/12/2018 1:57:54 AM PDT by octex
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To: radu


Lucky you! One thing I’ve never had the pleasure of doing is seeing a launch in person, even through binoculars.

And what a cool bus tour. My blue eyes are green with envy.

I am truly blessed, and wish you and yours could have joined us. I have seen several night launches from my home in Orlando, and one shuttle daytime launch from the Orlando airport terminal.

my sister and I had tickets for preferred location to watch a night launch of the shuttle, but it was scrubbed. bummer, big traffic jam for nothing.


14 posted on 08/12/2018 2:02:36 AM PDT by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: 867V309

Seeing a launch has been on my bucket list for years but I could never get down there. Even had two friends who worked on the Shuttle program who said I was welcome to stay with them at Cocoa but it never worked out. Then they killed the Shuttle program and he was laid off first - she was laid off shortly afterwards.

Some things just weren’t meant to be. *sigh*

This probe will be a cool one to keep tabs on. And we don’t have to wait NEARLY as long as we did to see Pluto up close. That was a LONG wait!


15 posted on 08/12/2018 2:34:41 AM PDT by radu (God bless our military men and women, past and present)
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To: Textide

When is it supposed to hit the sun?


16 posted on 08/12/2018 2:54:34 AM PDT by ImNotLying (The Consti.tution is an instrumenSt for the people to restrain the government...Patrick Henry)
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To: radu

With SpaceX doing what they’re with unmanned satellite and ISS resupply shots coupled with the upcoming Boeing and SpaceX human-rated test flights, you may get your chance yet.

I know it’s not the shuttle, but a rocket’s a rocket. I’d love to see a SpaceX shot with my own Mark 1 eyeballs rather than on a computer screen.


17 posted on 08/12/2018 3:02:00 AM PDT by hoagy62 (America Supreme!)
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To: Moonman62

Thanks for posting that link, I woke up just after the launch and missed it. What a beautiful launch! Watching the live stream now. This is amazing.


18 posted on 08/12/2018 3:25:22 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: ImNotLying
I don't think it's going to hit the sun. It's going to orbit the sun about 3.8 million miles away from it.

Just heard a great explanation on the Nasa live stream of how close that really is, I'll do my best to capture it completely here:

Imagine the Earth is in the end zone of a football field. On the other side of the football field is the Sun.

The Parker Solar Probe will get all the way to the four-yard line of the Sun. In football speak, that's easily well within the "red zone" and quite close to the sun.

I thought that was a great analogy by the woman from Nasa (don't remember her name) to explain it to us non-science types.

19 posted on 08/12/2018 3:28:30 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Textide
For those of you who don't know, Doctor Parker for who this mission is named after is from Chicago. He's a HERO in the science world. He was roundly criticized for years after publishing his research and papers on the Sun, solar winds and more. He stuck to his guns, believed he was right, and after YEARS he was finally vindicated and proven right.

He's the reason this mission to the sun is happening in the first place.

20 posted on 08/12/2018 3:30:36 AM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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