George Diller/OSTM/Jason-2 Launch Commentator: Well, let's look now at some
video tape of the Delta II rocket being prepared for flight. If we could go ahead and roll that tape,
and Armando tell us about some of what we're seeing.
Armando Piloto/LSP Mission Manager: Ok George, I would be happy to do that.
OK what we're seeing here is a picture-perfect view of slip two, here at Vandenberg,
prior to the beginning of the stacking of the Delta II in preparation for the OSTM mission.
This pad actually is a NASA owned facility here on the West Coast,
that we use very regularly to launch missions out of this coast.
So, what we're seeing here is the first stage being transported to the pad,
in preparation for mating it to the launch mount. As you saw there on video,
the first stage was transported in the horizontal position. So what the technicians,
the ULA technicians, are doing is using the main frame from the mobile service tower,
and they're slowly lifting the stage into the upright position. Some details about the first stage,
is that it uses a Rocketdyne Ares 27 main engine. This particular engine provides about 237,000
pounds of thrust and it operates on liquid oxygen and RP1. Here we're almost close to lifting the stage out of the transporter.
Another piece of information about the first stage is that it contains two vernier engines.
These are small rockets, motors that provide for roll control during the flight.
What has happened here, is that they have been lifted and it's now stored inside the mobile service tower.
The mobile service tower has wheels on the bottom.
Once this stage is safely secure the tower will be slowly rolled and positioned on top
of the launch mount and then the stage will be softly brought down and mated to the launch mount.
George Diller/OSTM/Jason-2 Launch Commentator: That's actually the launcher itself, is what you mean by launch mount?
Armando Piloto/LSP Mission Manager: That's right. And here the technicians are installing the guide pins.
Once all those guide pins are in place, the stage will be sat down on top of the six legs there on the launch mount.
They're doing some final inspections, making sure that there's proper clearance and that everything got installed properly.
The next part of the flow involved in stacking a Delta II vehicle is the mating of the solid rocket motors.
For our mission we're using the standard 40-inch-in-diameter solid rocket motors.
We only need to use three of them. Our mission doesn't require as much performance.
That's the reason only three solids are used. The Delta II offers the option of flying either three, four, or nine solids.
All of these three solids will be actually ignited at liftoff and they will burn for approximately 64 seconds.
And then we're going to hold on to them for a little bit longer, because of the oil rigs off the coast of California.
And then we will jettison them about 99 seconds after liftoff. The next part of the flow that we are seeing here is the view of the
Delta II second stage being transported to the pad.
The second stage will actually be mated on top of the inner stage. This particular video didn't capture the inner stage being mated.
But at this point of the flow, it should already be there.
What we're seeing is the hoisting operation involved to mate the second stage.
George Diller/OSTM/Jason-2 Launch Commentator: So what's going to
happen is the second stage will slide down into the inner stage, which is on top of the first stage.
Armando Piloto/LSP Mission Manager: That's correct, and that's what we're actually seeing in this particular video.
The second stage actually holds a lot of our, the computer, the main computer,
for the Delta II and also houses a lot of the electronics. And here is a view of the stage being softly mated to the inner stage.
OK this particular view was captured the morning when the spacecraft was brought to the pad.
This is, from my perspective, when things get very exciting and very interesting because it signifies such a significant milestone.
This particular operation happened on June 9 which was actually about a week later than we had originally planned.
We had a week here at Vandenberg, where everyday we had very high winds, so this operation kept being scrubbed.
But fortunately this particular morning, everything worked out and the spacecraft was brought
over and we're seeing what transpired that particular morning.
The can here is being brought down and that's going to be mated right on top of the second stage.
And what the technicians are doing there, is removing the contamination protection bags that are in place,
before they mate it to the second stage. That's a view there, of our two mechanical engineers from the LSP program.
And here the stage is being bolted down. OK this particular scene was taken
after the transportation can was removed and the spacecraft was in bag.
What appears to be happening here is the mating of the payload fairing.
The purpose of the fairing is essentially to shield the spacecraft during flight from aerodynamic heating.
For our mission, we're using what we refer to a 10 ft composite fairing.
It has two mission-unique access holes.
The next step here is that the fairing will be mated and completely buttoned up.