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good afternoon from Hawthorne California it is June 25th just after 1 p.m.
Pacific time welcome to the webcast of the Falcon 9 mission carrying the second
flight of 10 iridium next satellites you are seeing a live view of Falcon 9
through the fog at Vandenberg as we prepare for launch in just under 15
minutes launch is currently scheduled for 20 hours 25 minutes 18 seconds
Universal Time or 1:25 18 Pacific Daylight Saving Time I'm John in
Sprecher Falcon 9 principle integration engineer and I'll be bringing you
coverage of the SpaceX launch of iridium next during the webcast this is our
second launch for our iridium customer our first launch for iridium was in
January of this year and as it would happen 48 hours ago that first age
successfully reflow to space carrying Bulgaria sat.1
today's launch is from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base
our West Coast launch site you can see as I said through the fog
we were hoping the fog would have lifted by now but a two-stage Falcon 9 vehicle
which is standing 70 meters tall taller than a 20-story building now the first
stage provides the initial force to get out of the majority of Earth's
atmosphere it carries the second stage of space back up to about a hundred
kilometers or 60 miles the first stage day will return to our drone ship named
just read the instructions now currently in the drone ship it's fairly windy
conditions are marginal I think Elon has been tweeting but we are still go for
landing the second stage on top of the first stage will take the satellites
from the edge of space and accelerate them to the orbital speeds of just over
seven and a half kilometers per second ten times faster than a speeding bullet
at the very top of the stack somewhat obscured by the gaseous oxygen plume is
a 17 foot diameter payload fairing within which are the tenth iridium
satellites next to the rocket you can see structure this is transporter
erector there are two major parts to the transporter erector if the bottom is the
launch mountain that's what the rocket sits upon and provides connections to
the first stage that's that gray area that you see around the engine nozzles
the white area is the strong back it's a vertical tower that provides connections
to the second stage and the spacecraft these connections are umbilicals they
carry power propellant gases electrical commands and telemetry now one reminder
for today's launch unlike our Cape launch is a Kennedy Space Center the
transporter director will recline to the flight position of 77 1/2 degrees before
liftoff now we're currently at t-minus eliminates at 25 seconds and counting we
are still on schedule for an on-time launch at just after 25 minutes after
the hour for the Falcon 9 team we're working no significant issues we began
loading propellants at t-minus 60 minutes fuel is currently loaded on the
second stage and fuel is pretty much loaded on the first
we have a little topping off that we have to do and that will finish at about
t-minus seven minutes liquid oxygen load is underway on both stages is we're
filling the voluminous first and second stages with that ultra cold liquid
oxygen now our mixed Adria activity coming up we'll be opening the pre
valves between the first stage tanks and the engines to chill in the pumps coming
at t-minus seven minutes now it's hard to see on the view but we are flying our
new titanium grip vents these are the dark gray fins you can see right in the
middle of your image these are slightly larger thermally more robust to be able
to survive the heat of reentry the first stage we'll see how they work today on a
spacecraft side the radiant team is already on internal power no significant
issues in work they are ready for launch the range we're launching out of
Vandenberg today that's the air force western range they're providing similar
support is the eastern range one issue which has cleared earlier this afternoon
there was a ship in proximity to the drone ship that ship is now out of the
keep out zone and we're good to land the first stage and finally the weather is
excellent other than the views on the pad where we have fog but we hope to get
some shots from the onboard cameras as we rise out of the fog layer which is so
typical of Vandenberg so right now at t-minus 9 minutes and 45 seconds
everything's going well
you
now today SpaceX is launching ten iridium next satellites this is our
second launch that we have on contract with iridium each of the ten satellites
has a mass of about 600 kilograms and when the solar rays on each satellite
are fully deployed they'll span almost over nine meters in
wingspan now in order to correctly position the satellites the SpaceX team
has to launch right on the second so as I mentioned we have a one-second window
today we do have a backup opportunity tomorrow should we need it now when the
Falcon 9 carries the Iridium satellites into the deployment orbit that will be a
target of 625 kilometers altitude once we're there Falcon 9 will send commands
to each satellite separation system the satellites will be released one at a
time and a spacing of every 100 seconds so the whole sequence will take us 15
minutes from start to finish now once deployed these 10 satellites
will augment the 10 that are already launched earlier this year the final
plan is for a constellation of 75 iridium next satellites which will allow
cross-linking between four other satellites allowing anybody on earth to
contact any other place on earth with a little bit more information on the
Iridium constellation system we had an interview with Matt - the CEO of iridium
will play that video for you now so we are in the iridium snack that's an
acronym for the satellite network operation center this is a Center in
Northern Virginia about 30 miles or so outside of Washington DC where for the
last 20 years we've been running our Iridium satellite constellation and
flying it in controlling the satellites and managing it and we're on launch day
we'll be anxiously awaiting the 10 new satellites that will come off the
dispenser about 100 minutes into the flight
and start phoning home and being managed by these control displays and the people
who man this Center so about an hour into the flight the satellites will
start coming off the dispenser about once every minute and a half until
they're all deployed each satellite will boot itself up if you will it will
deploy it solar panels that will find the Sun that will find the horizon and
start positioning itself and it will start using a secondary data channel to
try to communicate with this facility and this is an example of one of the
screens that the operator uses in the satellite control software this one's
actually setup for one of the new satellites this is set up for SP 125 by
C and you can see all the data points there's there's something like a hundred
thousand different parameters that can be controlled by operators here to make
adjustments to configure it differently and almost two thousand commands or so
that they can send back and forth to move the satellite to turn attributes
off and on and to control all aspects of the satellites I think people know of us
from sort of our services from 20 years ago the big satellite phones but don't
appreciate that satellite devices have gotten to be quite small in fact in many
cases they're built into a truck or a ship or into an airplane that you don't
even see them they're being put on shipping containers or oil and gas
pipelines and on on solar wind farms to bring information
back and make make businesses more efficient I think people know our
humanitarian side they know that we're the first on the scenes when really bad
things happen and we're critical when you're at the North Pole or in the ocean
but they don't appreciate probably that where we've over the years become part
of the communication fabric of the planet really and are integrated into so
many things with other technologies like cell phone technology to do many many
important things and with this launch today and with the new satellites that
we're putting in a space and the whole new network we're just excited about so
many more things that we can do it's almost like an an innovation engine that
really is unique that we can create so many new things from and it's created so
many things over the last 20 years I can't even imagine the kinds of things
we're going to create over the next 20 t-minus five minutes and five seconds
and counting down still heading for an on-time launch currently on the Falcon
nine we have finished loading fuel on both the first and second stage liquid
oxygen is continuing to load that'll lasted to the last two to three minutes
the strong back right now is getting ready to begin moving away from the
rocket the clamp arms will open up and the strong back will recline to the
launch position of seventy seven and a half degrees currently the Iridium
satellite is on internal power working no issues they are ready to go the range
is also ready everything is clear for Falcon 9 launch to head downrange and
for the first stage to land and finally the weather upper altitude winds look
good we've just heard the call out the cradle arms coming open is the strong
back prepares to move away from the Falcon 9 as I say on the weather upper
altitude winds are good load conditions are good their ground level is good and
we just have the traditional Vandenberg fog but hopefully we'll get a view from
the Falcon 9 as we head into space so currently we're coming up t-minus three
minutes in 50 seconds and counting everything continues to go on time we're
going to listen in to the last minutes of the count along with you we'll be
back during the plus count to explain events as they happen on our way to
space strong back lower proceeding nominally wind payout striking the
target stage 2 TBC motions not on
Stage one lock so down
evently onstage - TVC emotional stage - TVC motion nominal
Stage one locks load closeout
Rock LC on countdown 1 please verify range is green rock Rangers green
Stromberg lowers ended strong Beck's locked out 77 and a half degrees
Stage two locks low close out
vehicle some self-aligned gas close out to started
TTIP set up complete
FTS and now it's amts is ready for launch a fps is ready for launch ground
side gaskets are foot balconies and startup Falcon highs and startup stage
two pressing replay LD verify go for launch
LD go for launch
to minus 30
20 stage once pressing for flight 15
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
hooked up with a pocketknife drop a vir tea
zero proposal on flight operation
GC moved to post launch pad operations secure the pad on the high net a copy
Wilco
fuck the exactly
f9 power and telemetry nominal
two plus 53 seconds into flight we've just heard the call-outs that engines
are nominal we've also got good status on the avionics system we're coming up
on maximum dynamic pressure
t plus 1 minute 30 seconds into flight Maryland engines continue to perform
Romilly we've heard a call out of em that D engine chill has begun that
indicates that propellants now are being fed to the front of the turbopump on the
upper stage engine to chill it as we get ready to light the upper stage engine in
just about 45 seconds we're coming up on several major activities all at once
at about t plus 2 minutes and 24 seconds we should have cut off of the nine first
stage engines stage separation ignition to the upper stage engine and right
afterwards re-ignition of three first stage engines for boost back burn let's
listen and watch together
Steve simmer
aha
coming up on t plus three minutes stage separation recognition successful the
first stage booster n-- is underway we're coming up on fairing separation
now around the ten iridium satellites
verax appreciated for three minutes and 23 seconds in the flight you can hear
the applause at SpaceX smaller crowd many of our folks drove up actually to
watch the launch from Vandenberg just about 180 miles up the road from us
first stage grid fins are deploying you can see the new dark gray titanium grid
fins they deploy a little more slowly than the old lighter weight aluminum
fins second stage engine burn continues to look nominal chamber pressure is good
trajectory looks good for the second stage
stick to football for Solano
four minutes into fight you can see the grid fins are fully deployed we're
listening for when the drone ship has what they call a OS acquisition of
signal that will indicate the telemetry from the first stage is being received
by the drone ship the drone ship does not send commands to the first stage
employ four and a half minutes into flight the upper stage engine continues
to perform nominal each one at stage two power it's a tree to pay double
d-plus five minutes into the flight second-stage continues to perform well
carrying ten iridium satellites to a parking orbit the next major event is
entry burn we will light three merlin 1d engines on the first stage that will
slow us down for entry through the atmosphere it's a fairly long burn
should be coming up in about 30 seconds
six minutes into flight you can see the entry burn is underway on the Falcon
nine first stage bringing it back to the drone ship titled just read the
instructions awaiting it in the Pacific Ocean
do you own a entry burn is complete the next burn will be the landing burn so
right now we're coming up on seven minutes it's actually six minutes and 40
seconds into flight Stage one is headed back to the drum ship in the Pacific
Ocean second stage continues to head south
towards Antarctica as we head for a parking orbit which is expected shortly
after tail lesson approaches ALS on the drone ship means acquisition of signal
the drone ship now receiving telemetry from the Falcon 9 first stage is a
reminder weather conditions are borderline out at the drone ship we'll
hopefully see a landing coming up here shortly
lining burn is underway
which can follow through you can tell by the cheering in the
background first days flight 38 has landed on just read the instructions our
drone ship in the Pacific Ocean landing at about two plus seven minutes and 47
seconds right on time meanwhile the second stage
engine at 8 minutes and 13 seconds into flight continues to perform well we've
got less than one minute before we go into our low-earth parking orbit
Stage two aft SSA
we have Seco confirmation of second-stage engine
shutdown about nine minutes and 14 seconds into flight waiting to hear from
the orbit and you heard the call-out GNC confirms a good insertion orbit so the
first phase of today's flight is now complete first stage has returned to the
drone ship second stage is in the desired parking orbit we're now entering
a Coast phase Falcon 9 second stage with the 10 iridium satellites still on top
of it mounted to a SpaceX dispenser are heading south loop underneath the South
Pole of the earth passing over Antarctica come up over Africa and so we
will have spacecraft deployments coming up in about 51 minutes at about 2 + 51
minutes into flight actually 52 minutes into flight so we're going to do right
now there's a bit of a long pause we've got about another 40 minutes
before we get into the next major phase so we're going to leave you with the
animation we'll be back on the webcast at t plus 50 minutes with live
commentary that will have already come back to the second burn of the upper
stage engine followed by a short pause and then the deployment of 10 iridium
next satellites so with that we'll see you back here at about t + 50 minutes
you
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HP anyway
hey what
this is one of the largest commercial satellite system being built today it's
still an incredible feat of Engineering that one company can't do alone it's an
opportunity of a lifetime to be on programming the size and caliber and it
draws the best of the best we found some of the best companies in the world apart
they've shown the propensity to work with us in order to provide a better
product for the future we have the smartest brightest players in the
industry we have the a-team
to plus 50 minutes and 50 seconds since we had the successful launch of Falcon 9
major event coming up here in just over a minute a short relight of the upper
stage engine it will only take us about four seconds lighting the upper stage
engine to raise us to the desired circular orbit of 625 kilometers
currently we're chillin in the upper stage engine getting it ready for second
ignition we're pressurizing liquid oxygen tank making sure there's enough
pressure to meet the inlet conditions of the turbo pumps we're also using
nitrogen gas cold nitrogen gas essentially puffing it through small
nozzles on the back end of the second stage that's making sure that everything
is settled so that we've got propellants right over the inlet to the pumps for
when we spin them and then ignite the merlin vacuum engine so we're going to
have ignition coming up in about 20 seconds it'll be a short burn and we'll
be back to talk to you about how the orbit looks
well you just saw we had a successful burn of the upper stage engine we're
coming up on t plus 53 minutes into flight duration of the burn looked good
what we're waiting for here is to hear confirmation from the guidance and an
intruder 'but is a good one for dispensing the 10 iridium next
satellites coming up starting in about five minutes from now
looking at the telemetry coming back from Falcon 9 through the South African
ground stations we've got one of what we've got a good orbit for the iridium
next satellites didn't want to leave any doubt there so the second stage has done
its job we're into the 625 kilometer orbit the next major event is going to
be the deployment of the 10 iridium next satellites now we hope to bring you as
many of the satellite deployments as we can we do pass from ground station to
ground station during the span also some of the satellites are on the back side
of the dispenser and not in view of the camera on the second stage but we might
be able to at least bring telemetry indication that the spacecraft has
separated so that will begin in a little under five minutes so we're going to go
back to the graphic and as we get close we'll come back and announce as we step
through the 15 minute sequence of deploying the 10 satellites for our
iridium customer
two plus 57 minutes since we launched we're waiting now for the deployment of
the first of the tenth iridium next satellites we're currently in a deployed
preparation phase on the second stage waiting to get the deployment command
sent themselves got a view of the stack the first satellite is actually at the
very top of the stack slightly off to the side so we may see a little bit of
it we may not first a skeptically confirm and we have confirmation of
deployment of the first of the 10th iridium satellites next deployment will
be coming up in a hundred seconds
hello hpk expected we're moving into the second deploy we're also crossing over
spacecraft deployed between ground stations we have confirmation of the
second satellite deployment
we're coming up on the plan third deployment of ten iridium next
satellites
hello s Marisha expected
third spacecraft employee confirmed and we have confirmation of the third
spacecraft deployment we've had loss of signal over ground station so it took us
a little bit to get data back to make sure that we go by
and we've got confirmation the 4th satellite the point you can see it
drifting off that's the camera view from our payload attach fitting that mounts
the dispenser holding the 10 iridium satellites now six of them to the second
stage
we're coming up on the deployment of the fifth of ten iridium next satellites
this one may not be visible it's on the back side of the stack space tripper and
as we suspected did not see anything on the video but we have confirmation that
the fifth satellite has deployed successfully
as we prepare for deployment of the six satellite we may be able to see this in
view they begin to dispense the bottom half and you can see the six satellite
is deployed on time
preparing for deployment of the seventh iridium satellite believe that's the one
at the top of the screen so we might be able to see this one on the second stage
Cameron 7th spacecraft deployed confirm and if the confirmation is the seventh
iridium next satellite slowly is pushed away from the dispenser stuff mounted on
top of the Falcon 9
we're preparing for deployment of the seventh possum pardon me the 8th of 10
satellites this is on the back side of the dispenser we will not be able to see
this on the camera view
Pete spacecraft and we have confirmation it is deployed moving on to the ninth
satellite this should be the satellite that's directly in view of the camera
that you saw there so we should get a good view of deployment for that
spacecraft
you
you
getting ready if the camera switches back to a view of the last two Iridium
satellites preparing for deployment of number nine nine spacecraft deployed
four nice clean separation of iridium number nine that leaves us with one
satellite to deploy
we're just half a minute away from the planned deployment of the tenth and
final iridium next satellite from the Falcon 9 second stage dispenser
final spacecraft deploy confirm and we've got confirmation generating of
satellites deployed 10 for 10 it's a clean sweep we can tie a broom to the
Falcon 9 so the Iridium satellites have successfully deployed from the Falcon 9
we invite you to follow iridium on their social media page they will be providing
information in the very near future as the satellites are required by the
Iridium ground station so we'll see how their initialization and check-out
period begins but that's going to bring an end to our webcast it's been a great
day for Falcon 9 count it down a little foggy at Vandenberg had an
on-time launch first-stage had a successful landing on the drone ship
just read the instructions second-stage executed two burns placing the Iridium
satellite staff in the desired final orbit and then we went through just now
the 15 minute sequence where this time we actually got to hear and see the 10
satellites deployed over the span of the 15 minutes so everything looks great
today for Falcon 9 and for iridium we'd like to wrap up by thanking our iridium
next customer as well as the US Air Force for range support and of course
the Federal Aviation Administration our licensing agency for the launch we
invite you to follow us on our Twitter feed as well as Instagram and our SpaceX
comm website so thanks for letting us share the mission of Falcon 9 with you
and until our next flight goodbye