
Orion Flight Test Live Launch - caio1982
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#.VIGQsGTF9d0
======
Arjuna
This is _awesome_. Two thoughts spring to mind:

1\. This is the equivalent of the Apollo 4 mission in that it also flew
without a crew, and was used to prove, validate and verify that Saturn V and
associated systems were fully mission-capable.

2\. Events like this represent our future. Events like this are the catalysts
for our future generation. The children around the world (perhaps one or more
of your own) that are viewing this event are the ones that will be galvanized
to dream, to explore, to go into astrophysics, computer science, mathematics,
etc. Just imagine the seeds that are being planted with every event, be it
brought to us by ESA, ISRO, NASA, SpaceX, etc. Our 5 year old is asking
questions: what makes a rocket launch? Why is the explosion so big? I mean,
we're already having conversations that start to tear me up a little, partly
because that connection brings me back in touch with my own passion for
technology, and partly because it is a small glimpse that represents _Our_
collective future.

 _I 'm stoked._

~~~
melling
Sure, and 2 years after Apollo 4 we landed on the moon. We did a few missions
and haven't been back to the moon in 40 years.

A Mars mission is 20 years out. You'll be an "old man" by then. It'll take
another decade or two to build a permanent Mars base.

What we really need is a lot less enthusiasm and a better plan.

~~~
Fuzzwah
A better plan needs more money. To secure the money the US has to be filled
with enthusiasm.

~~~
melling
Not thinking outside the box. Thankfully Elon is. Hopefully, a few other
engineers/businessmen will.

NASA has a $20 billion budget. WhatsApp cost almost NASA's budget. Uber is
already valued at $41 billion. Apple earned $181 billion in fiscal 2014.
Perhaps a half dozen companies will create a business around space and we'll
have a trillion dollar space industry to augment NASA's puny budget.

~~~
Fuzzwah
My hopes are aligned with this.

I suspect that some of those companies will be run by people who got enthused
by what NASA is doing now.

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caio1982
For those who missed it because of the sudden stream interruption:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCanbuiSywg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCanbuiSywg)

~~~
exDM69
I should point out that "it" is still going on, the mission is rather hectic
four hour mission concluding in atmospheric re-entry, splashdown and recovery.
There should be plenty of fantastic footage coming up in the next few hours,
it's worth staying tuned.

Now to grab some lunch to be back in time for the second stage burn to 3200 nm
apogee orbit (3640 mi = 5760 km).

~~~
caio1982
Fair and true enough! :-)

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rurounijones
I will cheer every launch but I must admit, after watching so many SpaceX
launches, I twiched when I heard "feet per second" and all the other imperial
units :p

~~~
_sword
Outer space is a volume of infinite freedom, therefore it uses the
standardized freedom units we in the US hold so dear

~~~
lotsofmangos
I thought a standardized freedom unit was your allotted standing area in one
of those free-speech-zones.

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privong
Unfortunately the feed died for me ~20s before launch (in S. America, and also
for several people I was online chatting with [US, Ukraine]). After a bit, the
audio briefly came back and I heard the sound of the rocket engine and the
announcer say "exploration", which I take to mean the rocket launched. NASA's
twitter account also says the rocket lauched[0] and 17 min to orbit[1].

EDIT: Looks like the feed is now revived (12:11 UTC).

[0]
[https://twitter.com/NASA/status/540839581374246912](https://twitter.com/NASA/status/540839581374246912)

[1]
[https://twitter.com/NASA/status/540840206862389248](https://twitter.com/NASA/status/540840206862389248)

~~~
aunty_helen
It went down for a lot of people, looking at the twitter feed on the side of
[http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv](http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv) a lot of
people are complaining. I was at T-9 seconds and it died.

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sehr
Watching a live space launch via phone while eating breakfast is quite
inspiring.

~~~
connie_lingus
it would have been even better in a flying car i suppose.

~~~
wmeredith
Self-flying car...

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jscheel
Apparently reliably streaming video is harder than rocket science.

~~~
exDM69
To be fair, there were a ton of international mirrors in popular streaming
services (livestream.com, ustream.tv) as well as international news agencies
(bbc.co.uk for example) which worked flawlessly.

I was watching livestream.com using VLC + livestreamer script and it worked
without any issues.

The problem is that these mirrors should have been listed clearly at the
nasatv site as well as in www.nasa.gov/orion.

~~~
butwhy
I found it funny how people were posting ustream mirrors. All of ustream was
struggling, so all the re-streams were buffering too.

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baldfat
11 parachutes in 3 stages? Now that is some serious engineering.

[http://news.discovery.com/space/private-spaceflight/final-
co...](http://news.discovery.com/space/private-spaceflight/final-countdown-
orion-spacecraft-by-the-numbers-141204.htm)

This looks so complex BUT it is coming in so fast (20,000 MPH) into the
atmosphere BUT there are so many points for failure. Surprised there wasn't a
simpler and safer solution.

~~~
coreyoconnor
IIRC Space X is going with small rockets to slow decent instead of parachutes.
Or in addition to parachutes? I wonder if that would be applicable for the
required dV. Or if that is even safer.

~~~
jessaustin
The goal is an eventual "soft landing" on a rocket, which isn't feasible with
parachutes. Such a rocket could be landed in a specific location, refilled
with fuel, and be available for relaunch fairly quickly.

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drinchev
I really enjoyed the part when they streamed from the camera attached to Orion
and the audio gradually silenced, since the rocket was leaving the atmosphere
and no air could be used for a sound wave medium.

~~~
mnw21cam
The audio from all the different camera views was the same, I noticed.
Notably, the sound obviously came from a microphone on the ground, fairly
close to the rocket. This can be deduced by the fact that there is very little
delay between the light up and the start of the noise, and the fact that the
character of the sound changes when the rocket is a couple of rocket-lengths
above the launch platform.

While I personally would prefer to have the authentic sound, I can understand
why they did it this way.

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exDM69
Stream mirrors:

    
    
        http://www.livestream.com/spaceflightnow
        http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv
    

Can be opened using VLC + Livestreamer script.

~~~
geerlingguy
The ustream feed has been the most reliable for me; NASA TV site stream always
seems to stutter or go offline at all the most exciting parts of any event.

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orbifold
They just stated that the force experienced by crew on reentry would be 8g,
while the force on a Soyuz capsule is just 4g. 8g is more than enough for a
person to black out, this seems like a major disadvantage.

~~~
mnw21cam
They don't have an option on that one. The acceleration experienced on re-
entry depends on the speed of approach. Re-entry from low earth orbit is no
big deal, hence being able to slow down with just 4G. Re-entry from a bit
further away is more serious, as there is more velocity to shed. Remember that
the module has been falling from more than 3600 miles up, which is a lot of
energy to get rid of.

~~~
vibrolax
The g-load experienced during the re-entry is more a function of the entry
trajectory that is flown than the speed of entry.

For example, the crews of several Soyuz missions experienced 8+ G's when the
so-called "ballistic" re-entry mode occurred due to various systems problems.

Apollo crews returning from the moon commonly experienced 6 - 7 g loads during
re-entry

The US space shuttle's entry profile was designed to limit decelerations to 3
g's (as was the ascent profile).

It isn't the speed, it's how you fly the ascent/descent profile. And yes, the
conical Apollo capsule form (largely re-used by Orion) is a lifting body that
is actually flown through the atmosphere.

[http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/U-S-
astronaut...](http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/U-S-astronaut-
recalls-terrifying-Soyuz-descent-1759455.php)

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nsxwolf
I have to give NASA a little credit for launching to 3,604 miles. No “manned”
mission has gone anywhere near that far since the 70s.

I would have expected them to start an infinite series of baby steps, “We went
suborbital!” “We went almost as high as the ISS!”

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ChuckMcM
Congratulations to the ULA and Lockheed teams that put this together. It is
always a big milestone when you have hardware flying! Let's keep the momentum
going!

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startupfounder
This is really the most amazing day for humankind.

Today we took the first step to be a multi-planitary species.

Today we took the step to go further.

Today we started the countdown clock to step foot on Mars.

Today we took only small step in a very long process, but many small steps got
us to where we are today, to be able to send a rocket into space (a rocket!!!
into space!!!) and many small steps lay before us to take a small step onto
the Martian surface.

I am inspired!

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pierrec
Successful splashdown! Everything appears to have gone as expected.

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efremjw
Damn that was amazing! What a perfect launch!!

How specialized was the heavy lift configuration for the Orion payload?

~~~
wolf550e
The ULA guy in the pre-flight news conference[1] said the rocket is not
modified for this flight but they had to do analysis because the payload is
not inside the payload fairing.

1 -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jNzvLOHLJw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jNzvLOHLJw)

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bayesianhorse
Since Kerbal Space Program I have a strangely changed attitude towards space
flights like this.

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acbergan
The stream went down for me too. Anyone have a link for a video?

~~~
mhandley
The BBC is also streaming it: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-
environment-30327137](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30327137)

Edit: they've stopped now.

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robodale
Is there a place we can get live NASA Orion Telemetry data?

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ntanitime
Go Go GO!

