MynameisKateThais, and I'm a processimprovementengineerhereatSpaceSexand I'm currentlystandinginfrontofourMissionControlCenter, locatedandcompanyheadquartersonHawthorne, CaliforniaToday's missionislaunchingfromVandenbergAirForceBase, whichhemighthearusrefertoasVandyduringtheWebcast.
That's about 150 milesnorthwestofLosAngeles.
Andwhilethecrowdisstillgrowingherebehindme, thebucketlistforthemajorityofspaceaccesstowatch a rocketlaunchinperson.
Somostofusairupthereoffbasewatchingtoday, FalconnineiscarryingJasonthree a sadly, thatwillbemeasuringglobalsealevels.
Thisis a bigsciencemission, andlateronintheWebcast, I'llfillyouinonallthecoolstuffJasonthreewillbedoingoncewedeliverittotheappropriateorbit.
AnotherexcitingthingontheagendatodayisthelandingattemptofourfirststagebackontheautonomousspaceportdroneshipwhileallofspacesexcelebratedafterthesuccessfulinhistorymakingfirststagelandingbackatCapeCanaveral, Floridajustunder a monthago.
Today's landing a templebeslightlydifferentandthatwe'remakinginanotherattemptforourdroneship, whichiscurrentlyabout 200 milesdownrangefromVandenberg S O.
Wegot a lotgoingontoday.
Thereis a numberofdifferentcamerashotsofwillHaveLifeforyoufromallaroundspacesexaswellastheVanBergAirForceBaseitself, liveshotfromtherocketand, ofcourse, videofromspaceandlivevideoofourlandingattemptSoyou'llseeeverythingthatwe'vegot a lotgoingon.
AndasKatejustmentioned, ifyou'veneverseen a livelunchbefore, I wouldstronglyrecommendaddingGetSeoBucketlist.
Itwas a verydifferentexperienceinpersonthanitisonyourscreen, butlikeit's youshootsimilarto a lightningandthunderstormbecauseittravelsfasterthanthespeedofsound.
Jasonthreeis a NASAandNoahscientificsatellitedesignedtomeasureglobalsealevelsdownwithcentimetrelevel, whichwillallowscientiststobetterunderstandtheEarth's climatepatternsandhowthey'rechanging.
However, differentlaunchsiteshavedifferentadvantagesanddisadvantages, dependingonwhattypeoforbityou'retryingtogetitnow.
Jasonthreeisheadedto a holderorbittoday, whichis a fundamentallydifferenttypeoforbitandmuchbettersuitedby a SouthfacinglaunchfromVandenbergAirForceBase.
Now, iftheFalcon 96 thelandingtoday, itwillbetheveryfirstsuccessfullandingof a rocketonanoceanplatform.
Cominglater.
Wealsohave a 45 minutecoast, verybetweenourstageseparationandoursatellitedeployment.
Now, ourfellowcohostLaurenLines, alsogot a chancetotake a lookattheJason's resatellite.
Let's take a lookathervideorightnow.
MynameisLaurenLionsonthemissionintegratorfortheJasonthreeMission, and I amstandinghereinthehangaratVandenbergAirForceBase, andthereasonit's emptyistheRocketjustrolledoutthismorningwithJasonthreespacecraftonitsnose.
Jasonthreeisthefourthin a seriesoftheJasonmissions.
I'm JohnFederalFeel a leadmechanicalengineerhere, JohnisBrookeriscurrentlyatVandenbergAirForceBasesupportingtoday's mission.
Soinstead, I havebeendoingmybesttokeepupwiththevariousvoiceloopsaswellaskeepintouchwithourengineersatthelaunchsitetoprovideyouwithsomeupdatesaswegoalong.
Todaywearetargeting a T minuszerotimeof 10:42 a.m. PacificstandardtimeandthisisactuallythelastflightofourpreviousconfigurationoftheFalconninelaunchvehicle.
Pleasegiveme a goNogoforlaunchVCGoGCGC, GogspropBrasco A B I t v I goRadiationratGoFlightsoftwareGNCkids, yougogroundcreditsgoRCJessicarecoverywork.
Howeveryougo F t s f t s Cho o s m o somegoFitsporockRocco, MissionmanagerMissionandgoseeGoand l m analarmisgo l d ltisgostillneedahgsandflightsomewherethesoftwareisgoGSSgoeswell.
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T minuszeroliftoffandthenwhathappensjustbeforeitlandssofromthedroneshipwillgetonstationabouteighthoursaheadoftime.
That's enoughforthecrewtoboard.
Basicallycheckallthesystemsandprepareitfor a landing, andthenthecrewwillgetonboard a separatevessels, goabout 10 milesawayandwaitfortheboostertocomeon.
Andthen, about 10 minutesafterliftoffwillbedoingthelanding.
I saywelandsuccessfullyinthemomentsaftertouchedonwhathappens, Therocketbasicallybeginsanautomaticprogramsavingsequence.
It's about a minuteorsoagogettingreadyforthestrongbackretract, andyou'llactuallystarttoseethewhitestrongbackontherighthandsideoftherocketinthatimagebegintopullback.
Butitiscertainly a lotmorechallengingtolandon a movingseaplatformthanitistolandonthelaunchsiteasyousawwiththeorbecome a missionearlier, andthatwhetheritdoeslooklikeit's foggythere.
Itmaymakeit a littledifficultforustoseetoday's mission, butthegroundwindsarelowwiththelaunchsiteaswellasourupperaltitudewinds.
Asyousawwiththedrunkenvideothatweshowedyouthat's reallymorethanjust a barge.
It's actually a reallysophisticatedpieceofequipment.
Ifyouimaginethelandingon a platforminthemiddleoftheoceanisactuallymuchmoredifficulttaskthatlandingon a solidpadbackonthegroundwasactually a lotofseemotion, likeJohnwassayingthewavestothespaceport.
Thespaceworkmanshipjustreadinstructions, actuallyusedtohave a lotofsystemsthatkeepitinexactlytherightspot.
Sotherock.
Itcomesrightdown.
Ontopofthat, it's aboutthesizeof a footballfield, whichsoundsprettybig.
ButwheneveryouaregoingjustunderMachsix, andfrom 124 milesaboveEarth, that's actually a prettytoughtargets.
A hit, remember, goingintoorbitisreallymoreaboutgoingreally, reallyfastsideways.
Soifyouwanttocomebackto a stationarydroneship, canceloutallthatvelocity.
ThesearethesamenineMerlinenginesthatblackthatareabouttoblastoffhad a fewofthemrelightseveraltimestoslowthefirstagedownasitcomesbacktotheatmosphereandtowardsthejunctionrightnextoneofthegridfins.
Andthatisactually a viewfromthethermalimagerontheleftsideofthesecondstagevehiclesupersonicreachwayhad a greatliftoffofFalconninefromVandenbergAirForceBase.
Soinjust a fewminuteshere, assoonaswegetconfirmationofthefirstageiscomingbacktowardsthetowardsthedroneship, we'llbelookingatthesecondstageonefinaltimeandthentaking a 45 minutebreakbeforethesecondburnandsatellitedeployment.
Allright, Solike I saidbefore, wegot a reallysuccessfullaunchsofartoday, we'reactuallygonnabesenttogetbackupThioJohnfor a quickstatusupdate, besuretokeepfollowingalong.
Sofar, we'reon a nominaltrajectory.
Withthatsecondstageperformance, we'reaboutfourminutesawayfromthesecondenginecutoffwherewe'regoingtoparkinourorbitandthengetreadytodeploytheJasonthreespacecraft 45 minuteslaterafterwedothatcircleis a circularizationmaneuverwetalkedaboutearlier.
Meanwhile, thefirststagehasperformed a successfulflipanditisonitswaybacktothedroneship.
Andjusttoreemphasizethisisthisis a testthatwe'redoingtoday, regardlessofifwelandsuccessfulornot, we'regonnagetsomereallyimportantdatafromthelandingattempttodayisthemostimportant.
Evenifthere's a littlebitoffire, it's not a bigdeal.
Thisisexactlywhatwetrytodo.
WelearnfromeverythingthatSpace X withsuccessorfailure.
Sojust a fewminuteshere, we'regonnabeigniting a secondstageandthenrightafterthesecondstage, secondignitionwillbeblastingthatJasonthreesatelliteoffthesecondstagefor a fullhopefullysuccessfuldeploymentandthedeploymentsinglesthesuccessofthemission.
We'reallcrossingourfingers, hopingeverythinggoeswell, thislastmaneuverandforthoseofyouthatarehaveperhapsjustjoiningusrightnow, wedidhave a successfulseparationofourtwostages.
However, atthispoint, welostvideofeedofourdroneship.