X-37B Countdown and Launch

[Zvezdichko]

4 mins and counting

[kamaz]

T-3:45 min and counting

[slang]

link farm:

Spaceflight Now Mission Status Center (With live stream)
NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center: X-37 News (currently, very old news)
NASA Launch Schedule
National Weather Service, Southeast Sector, Base Reflectivity
National Weather Service, Melbourne Florida, Hourly Weather Forecast Graph
Wikipedia: Boeing X-37
Wikipedia: USA-212 (first X-37B mission)
Space.com: Air Force's Secretive Space Plane Nears Maiden Voyage
BAUT Forum topic Look familar? (some recent discussion)
United Launch Alliance (ULA) (information, image gallery, webcast)
United Launch Alliance: Webcast
Twitter: ulalaunch


Launch time: Today, 5:46 p.m. EST, 22:46 GMT, 23:46 CET.

[slang]

50 seconds

[slang]

Liftoff! Clear tower

[slang]

about Max Q

[kamaz]

max-Q

[slang]

Fairing jettison

[slang]

Booster sep

[slang]

Centaur burning nicely

[slang]

First MECO in about 10 minutes

[kamaz]

2 minutes to MECO

[kamaz]

MECO

[slang]

"At the request of the customer we will now conclude the live coverage". Boooo USAF and yer secrety secrets!!

Looks like a great launch so far. Congrats ULA and USAF.

[Garrison]

I guess we've transited into the classified portion of this mission...

[kamaz]

Congrats to everyone involved.

"At the request of the customer we will now conclude the live coverage". Boooo USAF and yer secrety secrets!!

Yeah... How long will it take this time until amateurs can figure out the orbital elements?

[Garrison]

Absolutely, congratulations to ULA and the USAF, only thing cooler to launch on an Atlas V would be Dreamchaser.

[slang]

I imagine ULA will have a launch video on their site soon, but for those who can't wait or hate seeings things edited to fit to music, here's the launch as found on youtube (7 minutes)

ETA: Pretty pictures. Even more pretty pictures. And even more pretty pictures.

[aerovoid]

Well I thought I'd give this thread a bump, due to a recent article on Space.com [link]

It sounds like their may be plans for a scaled up version of the X-37B, which would be called the X-37C. They would have both unmanned and manned versions, which could carry up to six people inside. Personally, I'd like to see this happen, but only time will tell.

And I also just noticed that, as of two days ago, OTV-2 has been up in orbit for 7 months now. So it could be landing before the end of this year.

[Garrison]

Well I thought I'd give this thread a bump, due to a recent article on Space.com [link]

It sounds like their may be plans for a scaled up version of the X-37B, which would be called the X-37C. They would have both unmanned and manned versions, which could carry up to six people inside. Personally, I'd like to see this happen, but only time will tell.

And I also just noticed that, as of two days ago, OTV-2 has been up in orbit for 7 months now. So it could be landing before the end of this year.

That's interesting about the X37-C and if the USAF were interested probably a lot easier to fund than certain NASA projects.

[Damburger]

Well, X-37 is further along than Orion. Why not go with the more mature program?

[Garrison]

Well, X-37 is further along than Orion. Why not go with the more mature program?

Well that you probably couldn't mount BEO missions using an X37-C may be the practical answer. The cynical one is that the X37-C explicitly doesn't require the SLS for launch and Congress isn't going to support any plan that does away with their favourite rocket.

[Commodore]

That would be really cool. But is the on-board propulsion a sufficient LAS?

[Garrison]

That would be really cool. But is the on-board propulsion a sufficient LAS?

I suppose that's one of the things they would have to address in the X37-C but there is no reason why not.

[Extravoice]

It might make a nice lifeboat for the ISS. It has already demonstrated that it can stay in space for an extended period. Or maybe as a people shuttle for commercial stations. A nice low-g runway landing sounds like something you'd like for tourists.

For anything other than LEO, I'd guess the heat shield wouldn't be sufficient, so we'd still need some kind of capsule for those missions, right?

[stutefish]

Something like the X-37 would make a nice taxi for EOR operations. ISS is a nice proof of concept, but what I would really like to see is an orbital shipyard. Instead of Mars Direct, why not assemble something big in earth orbit, and go from there.

Plus, once EOR assembly ops have been mastered, we can look at MOR ops. Deliver cargo rockets to Mars orbit. Have Mars shuttle launch to Mars orbit, and have assembly crews there transfer sample containers to a return stage, and transfer fresh consumables to the shuttle. Of course, the Mars shuttle would probably look very different from the X-37...

Having a base of operations that's not stuck at the bottom of a gravity well might make sense in the long run, and something like the X-37 could be very useful in establishing and supplying such a base

[The Jim]

Well, X-37 is further along than Orion. Why not go with the more mature program?

It isn't further along. It is a new vehicle and it would be starting from scratch, it has to be designed from the ground up. Only thing useable from the X-37B is its shape. Orion is already doing major welds on the orbital flight test vehicle.

[The Jim]

That's interesting about the X37-C and if the USAF were interested probably a lot easier to fund than certain NASA projects.

No, the USAF Space has similar issues and factions fighting for money within it.

[swampyankee]

No, the USAF Space has similar issues and factions fighting for money within it.

I suspect that a lot of people in the US Congress will vote for wasteful DoD spending while voting against exactly the same program in any other government agency.

[Extravoice]

It looks like the latest X37B mission has gotten an extension:

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1111/29otv2/

Although my inner-CT wonders if it is just broken and can't fire its engine to return