NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

[2hats]

Launch

 

[Limejuice]

And I lost the NASA stream at 30 seconds

 

[2hats]

Rocket cam!

 

[Limejuice]

I would have liked to watch that.

 

[2hats]

Booster separation.

 

[2hats]

Second stage up and running. Good pressure.

 

[2hats]

Main engine cut off

 

[2hats]

Staging

 

[2hats]

Launch abort system jettison

 

[editor]

Arse! I forgot about the launch. Watching the stream now, except it seems to have frozen. Edit - it's back. Go rocket!

 

[editor]

Yeah!

 

[Limejuice]

The commentary is clearly aimed at a domestic audience, but it does sound a little strange to hear measurements in feet and pounds.

Maybe it's just me.

 

[2hats]

Nice view of the south Atlantic from low orbit

 

[2hats]

Secondary engine cut off. Now in the initial 185x888km orbit. That will reignite around 1400UTC to set the spacecraft up for the climb up and then back down through the van Allen radiation belts prior to re-entry.

 

[Limejuice]

The launch replays from different cameras is interesting.

Umbilicals separating after igntion!

 

[2hats]

Interesting to see the pad rock and roll. It's a dry pad, unlike the shuttle wet pad, so the acoustics are far more brutal.

 

[Limejuice]

The rocket camera looking down the length of the main core is the best, all the way up to high altitude / low orbit level. Then a flash of flame and the boosters separate.

Smashing.

 

[2hats]

No on board camera shots whilst the high quality ascent video is being dumped to the ground.

 

[2hats]

This thread is missing some flames:

 

[Limejuice]

Ah yes, flame.

The "cowbell" of rocketry.

 

[2hats]

Second stage re-ignition to place the spacecraft in the final desired orbit of -37x5809km (sets it up for re-entry off the coast of Baja California).

e2a: SECO2. Spacecraft on target. Currently climbing through 4800km altitude and about to pass through the van Allen radiation belts for the first time.

 

[Limejuice]

The apogee altitude is increasing by about 10 miles a second.

 

[Crispy]

Feels like Kerbal Space Program

 

[2hats]

About to crest at apogee and then begin the long dive back...

 

[Limejuice]

I wonder if NASA folks are having a sweepstake on how close to the target the actual splashdown happens.

 

[2hats]

NASA drone aircraft loitering to film the descent to splashdown:

 

[2hats]

Separation of the Orion crew module from the upper stage confirmed.

 

[Crispy]

The uh announcer on the uh NASA TV stream is uh saying uh an awful uh lot. It's uh starting to get my nerves.

 

[2hats]

Executing the raise burn and orientating for the correct angle of attack for re-entry.

 

[2hats]

About 8 minutes to entry. Peak heating two minutes after that and acquisition of signal a minute after that. Ie entry takes about three minutes.