Launch Day STS 122 Atlantis

[DaveS]

Single engine press 104.

 

[DaveS]

Engines being throttled back to maintain 3 Gs.

 

[silent_protagonist]

:speakcool:

 

[DaveS]

MECO!! ET sep! Nominal MECO, OMS-1 not required.

 

[TimA]

Wonferful.

 

[EJ316]

Yay! Well done guys

 

[DaveS]

GO for APU/HYD shut-down on-time.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Great job to all the folks down there at NASA! Good Luck Atlantis!

 

[DaveS]

MPS purging and inerting in work.

 

[DaveS]

Great job to all the folks down there at NASA! Good Luck Atlantis!

Don't forget those who did the really hard work: The employees of United Space Alliance(USA).

 

[DaveS]

Tail-only control is not required.

 

[cjp]

So, now it takes several days to reach the ISS? I can see why (ISS is currently above New Zealand), but wasn't there a better launch window?

OTOH, I can imagine the astronauts preferring the long scenario. The more days in space the better :beach:.

 

[silent_protagonist]

So, now it takes several days to reach the ISS? I can see why (ISS is currently above New Zealand), but wasn't there a better launch window?

OTOH, I can imagine the astronauts preferring the long scenario. The more days in space the better :beach:.

The shuttle has very little delta V on-orbit, so they want to take the most economical path possible, which means waiting until the planes are exactly aligned. That usually means a day or two in a catch-up orbit and performing rendezvous maneuvers, if you really want to finesse it (which they do).

 

[computerex]

I hope they launch today! I am very glad I was able to make it from school in time.

 

[DaveS]

The shuttle has very little delta V on-orbit, so they want to take the most economical path possible, which means waiting until the planes are exactly aligned. That usually means a day or two in a catch-up orbit and performing rendezvous maneuvers, if you really want to finesse it (which they do).

Also, they have loads of things to do prior to docking.

The long rendezvous time is also for the astronauts to adapt to the microgravity enviroment.
Most astronauts can suffer from "space motion sickness" which makes them very dizzy and can feel extreme nausea.

 

[DaveS]

OMS-2 completed.

 

[myles]

Beautiful MECO and ET sep!!

 

[DaveS]

Payload bay door opening now in work.

 

[DaveS]

Payload bay doors opened.

 

[DaveS]

GO for KU band antenna deploy and GO for orbit ops.