Non-SpaceX Launch Videos

[bxr140]

Yikes, I go on leave for a few weeks and miss this! While not exactly a launch video, its a video none the less. And the fact that this Epic is in a prime location on the GEO arc could create problems for decades, if not more.

Stricken with fuel leak, Intelsat 29e seen drifting in geostationary orbit – Spaceflight Now

Ignoring the fact that only narcissists quote themselves, here's the followup news in I-29e.
Intelsat pins Intelsat-29e failure on external event, readies replacement order - SpaceNews.com

Short story, its the age old "must be ESD or a micrometeorite" conclusion. That said, there's some good stuff in the article on how GEOcomm works...and specifically how it recovers from such an event.

 

[808?]

 

[Grendal]

Another successful launch (#7) for Rocketlab.

Everyday Astronaut's take on the launch:

 

[bxr140]

Obviously no where near the production value of a SpaceX launch, but still always fun to see rocket stuff. Notable moments (for me, anyway):
~1:55--interesting plume formation from the RD180. Presumably the nozzles are clocked at 2 and 8 relative to the camera.
~3:30--classic post-release fairing flap.

ULA releases ‘rocketcam’ video from Atlas 5 launch – Spaceflight Now

 

[Grendal]

Rocketlab Electron "As the Crow Flies" launch today:

 

[Electroman]

I am trying to under the launch tragectory here. The rocket went straight up, just like any other launch, but it continued to go straight up gaining only vertical speed with no horizontal component for a very long time after the 2nd engine started burning and long after the fairings were separated. I saw the tilt only the last two minutes of the 2nd stage, and wasn't sure if that was just due the earth's rotation, or it was an induced change by the rocket.

The 'crow flies' trajectory was unusual.

 

[EVCollies]

Rocketlab Electron "As the Crow Flies" launch today:

What are we seeing at 24:54, passing a nearby satellite?

 

[bxr140]

That is the satellite....mounted to the kick stage. The blocky cuboid is the satellite and the disk-ish thing is the kick stage.

 

[Electroman]

I am trying to under the launch tragectory here. The rocket went straight up, just like any other launch, but it continued to go straight up gaining only vertical speed with no horizontal component for a very long time after the 2nd engine started burning and long after the fairings were separated. I saw the tilt only the last two minutes of the 2nd stage, and wasn't sure if that was just due the earth's rotation, or it was an induced change by the rocket.

The 'crow flies' trajectory was unusual.

can someone throw some light into this flight path? Has SpaceX every done this. I have always seen the rockets tilt eastward just a minute after launch

 

[bxr140]

can someone throw some light into this flight path? Has SpaceX every done this. I have always seen the rockets tilt eastward just a minute after launch

looks like it pitched over to me...but the link above doesn’t have downrange vs altitude so it’s hard to say exactly.

 

[Electroman]

looks like it pitched over to me...but the link above doesn’t have downrange vs altitude so it’s hard to say exactly.

In fact the commentator does mention this - that the trajectory is perfectly vertical in this launch, but doesn't mention why and how that helps.

 

[bxr140]

In fact the commentator does mention this - that the trajectory is perfectly vertical in this launch, but doesn't mention why and how that helps.

Timestamp? Admittedly I didn't watch the whole thing so I didn't hear what you heard...but gut feel is there's some bit of layman's context being factored in to the broadcast. No doubt there was more of a vertical trajectory than we see with the bigger rockets to get out of the atmosphere faster: With the downward looking camera during ascent you can see the thing pitching/yawing about, sort of like a small boat getting bounced around in heavy seas would do more so than a big boat.

In any case, it sure looks to me like there was a pitch-over prior to staging. And from a practical perspective there has to be some downrange component when you're dropping spent rocket parts back down to the earth's surface.

Unrelated, the staging is pretty cool. For the first few seconds the main stage has relatively low velocity delta relative to the upper stage, then the second engine lights and the thing zips away.

 

[Electroman]

Timestamp?

T+3:55 (19:00) "

 

[bxr140]

Ah...yeah, I definitely wouldn’t interpret ‘straight and true’ as ‘perfectly vertical’ or even anything close. That just means its flight path is very well correlated with predicted, there’s no anomalies, and generally that all is as it should be.

Its too bad they don’t have a downrange ticker to compliment their speed and altitude gauges.

 

[Electroman]

Looking at the video, one can clearly see that this one went pretty straight (or more than anything we have ever seen with F9) to atleast 200KMs altitude with very minimal downrange during that time, until a minute before satellite separation.

 

[bxr140]

Looking at the video, one can clearly see that this one went pretty straight (or more than anything we have ever seen with F9) to atleast 200KMs altitude with very minimal downrange during that time, until a minute before satellite separation.

I appreciate that’s what you think you see. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that they’re flying an impractical profile like “straight up”.

Just watching the first few moments of launch again, it’s actually quite clear the vehicle starts pitching over in the first few km (and potentially right off the pad where it has a slight screen-right angle). During the first km, focus on the land mass on the right (like the tip of the land mass), you’ll see it doesn’t move much in the frame, but there’s more and more land coming into frame on the left. Then, as I stated earlier, you can see significant pitching just before first stage separation.

Be advised that the primary camera angle on the vehicle is more or less pointing eastward, and being a polar launch the trajectory is more or less south. So a pitch down would be heading screen right.

 

[Grendal]

Successful Antares launch for the CRS for NASA - with play by play from Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut.

 

[e-FTW]

And some more very nice pics of that launch, including that OMG-it’s-going-to-blow-up hydrogen fireball: Photos: Delta 4-Heavy blasts off from Vandenberg – Spaceflight Now

Finally, Eric Berger at Ars explaining why it does that: This massive rocket creates a fireball as it launches, and that’s by design

Delta IV Heavy (a.k.a. the Triple Hydrogen Threat) launches in 2020. Rocket just moved to the pad for many months of testing and integration: Dane Drefke on Twitter

 

[Grendal]

Ariane 5 launch. 1:05 in the video.

 

[TLej]

Nice launch. Took a bit for that main engine to light and stabilize, but it really boogied once the solids lit. Shame to throw it all away. 250 times.