Antares Return to Flight Thread

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>>8415492
>>8413654

>delayed 24 hours
reee

>>8415492
So the blast will be bigger than last time with SpaceX?

>>8416390
No.

>>8415492
RD-181s should be totally fine for the first stage, and the CASTOR 2nd stage is just a modified version of an existing CASTOR and those have been flying for ages.

The problem with the accident was the explosion-happy NK-33s which enjoy burning through themselves. I'm surprised the Russians are bothering with them on Soyuz-2, but those are being replaced with the RD-193 (basically the same as the RD-181).

>>8416437
areojet had to buy back those rebuilt nk33s after the explosion - what do they do with them?

>>8416881
Probably put them right back in storage where they got them, waiting for the next sucker to come along and buy some cheap looking engines.

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>>8416923
IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!

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>>8416437
>I'm surprised the Russians are bothering with them on Soyuz-2
It's free rocket engines.

So maybe they're from the 1960s. So maybe there's nobody around who worked on them. So maybe they're from a rocket that blew up every time it tried to launch.

They were literally sitting in a barn. Complete rocket engines. Big, powerful, high-efficiency ones. Like, 60 of them.

That makes people's fingers itch.

In retrospect, understanding that THESE were the engines Kistler wanted to use for their *reusable* rocket, it's no wonder that they went out of business before building anything.

>>8417143
I suppose that makes sense, and they are just interim engines until they get the RD-193s going. Would be a shame to have a Soyuz failure because of them though.

>>8417030
what a funny reddit joke xp

7:40pm eastern US time

NASA's live! Get in here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmHHpAsMVw

>>8418866
Still nearly an hour until the launch, though.

>this spaghetti

Jesus christ that guy is so nervous

15 Minutes left.

>>8418949
Hey, at around T+2min, it will be visible across most of the US East Coast. Neat.

Did anyone else catch the girl that worked in social media? "Oh my gawd, it was super awesome"

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Final countdown is go

>>8418965
forgot link
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops

And countdown just got pushed back 5 minutes.

5 minute delay

Its gonna blow, guaranteed

And Liftoff.

Passed Max Q, looks like no fireworks so far.

No boom.

Nominal

Stage separation. Still nominal.

What the hell was with that camera work?

Fucking NASA can't manage a window for the closeup of the engines? They didn't show a wide shot of the liftoff at all.

separation and 2nd stage ignition

>NOMINAL
>O
>M
>I
>N
>A
>L

>>8419006
yeah, they did a camera cut that made it look like the rocket blew up!

the 3D animation is primitive, too

And it's in orbit. Getting ready for vehicle separation

burnout and Cygnus separation

I want to marry these cutes.

RIP in peace Challenger

>>8418965
is that the whole lot of missions ever launcehd eve rever ever of the evers?

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i want to be an astronaut

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>>8420110
..no more floating food
and real espresso

>>8419018
>>8420110
From an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense that astronauts, some of the most physically fit and capable specimens of our species, would be attractive. Because over the course of their bloodline, that attractiveness would have given them access to the choiciest of mates.