George Diller/Launch Commentator: This is Atlas Launch Control. We're now 49 minutes, 55 seconds into the flight of LRO/LCROSS.
And joining us now, here in the Atlas Space Operations Center at the public affairs console,
is Chuck Dovale, our NASA launch director for today's flight.
And Chuck, I guess on the one hand, if you just look at the launch vehicle it seemed to be a pretty smooth countdown.
It didn't sound like we worked any issues to speak of, did we? Chuck Dovale/NASA Launch Manager:
No, it was amazingly smooth on the launch vehicle side.
Both spacecraft behaved well throughout the count, range assets were quiet and well supportive.
The noisy one was the weather and it certainly was a noisy one. George Diller/Launch Commentator:
Yeah, it seemed like for awhile there, like there was almost no hope and then it came around our way.
But tell us what the discussion was like about what was going on.
Chuck Dovale/NASA Launch Manager: Well, the one thing that was concerning us, you know,
we had instantaneous windows, or periods, or opportunities, to launch.
We didn't have a large period to work with and they were separated by 10 minutes.
So it was hard to predict the forecast that the weather officer was giving us as to
whether or not we should try for the first period, or the second, or the third.
If we hesitated on a decision, it could've been problematic to gather the team and coordinate a new
T-0 quickly and we could possibly lose the one good opportunity we would have,
providing the weather was good. George Diller/Launch Commentator:
Well, that's why we didn't, even though the weather cleared a couple of minutes before the opening of that second window.
We went to the...
Chuck Dovale/NASA Launch Manager: We went to the end. We had committed earlier based on what the forecast was.
We were told it was going to clear about 21:30, 5:30 p.m. So, based on that information we went to the 5:32 p.m. T-0.
Turns out it cleared a little bit early, but it would have been very harrowing to go for that
middle opportunity because when it cleared was about
5:19 p.m. and the middle opportunity would've been at 5:22 p.m.
So we would've had to of polled the team and started counting even when the range was "red"
and they would have gone" green" between four minutes and one minute.
George Diller/Launch Commentator: Would've been pushing your luck?
Chuck Dovale/NASA Launch Manager: And we can do that, but we would like to avoid that if we can.
George Diller/Launch Commentator: What do you know about the flight so far? How has this gone?
Chuck Dovale/NASA Launch Manager: All's well so far. We just accomplished LRO separation, which was obviously a great milestone.
We wish LRO and our friends at Goddard Space Flight Center good luck on their mission. We look forward to the returns on it.
And obviously we're not done. We've got a few hours more to go for LCROSS.
At about four hours after launch, we should be seeing the handover from the
Centaur-led, ULA-led, mission over to the Ames project and LCROSS-led.
So we're looking forward to that, but we've got a few hours to go. But all appears well for LRO and we wish them luck.
George Diller/Launch Commentator: Well, looking ahead as far as our next expendable launch here from the cape,
it's not far away is it? We've got something coming up next week.
Chuck Dovale/NASA Launch Manager: Yeah, we've got a Delta IV, our NASA GOES mission, slated for the (June) 26.
George Diller/Launch Commentator: So that is something that we're also looking forward to. Not very far away,
and should be as fascinating and fun to watch as this Atlas has been.
So Chuck, thank you very much for speaking with us, and we're glad this mission is off to a very good start.
Chuck Dovale/NASA Launch Manager: Alright, thank you George. We are too.
George Diller/Launch Commentator: And we're now at 54 minutes,
30 seconds into the flight of LRO/LCROSS. This is Atlas Launch Control.