1 00:00:01,470 --> 00:00:03,010 George Diller/Launch Commentator: Joining us now is Tim Dunn. 2 00:00:03,010 --> 00:00:07,900 He was our assistant launch director for today's countdown operation. 3 00:00:07,900 --> 00:00:12,080 So, Tim, I wonder if you could kind of summarize how the countdown went and 4 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:19,110 then what you've been able to see from the data from your perspective about how the flight of the Pegasus has gone. 5 00:00:19,110 --> 00:00:21,880 Tim Dunn/NuSTAR Assistant Launch Director: OK, Great. Thanks, George. Thanks for having me. 6 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:26,390 It's a terrific day for the Launch Services Program here at Kennedy Space Center. 7 00:00:26,390 --> 00:00:30,810 We're a little bit spread out right now. Obviously, the core of our 8 00:00:30,810 --> 00:00:36,790 launch team is out in the Marshall Islands at Kwajalein and they are thrilled right now. 9 00:00:36,790 --> 00:00:40,700 Back here at Kennedy Space Center, we have a large contingent of our 10 00:00:40,700 --> 00:00:46,570 engineering team as well as our management team here at Hangar AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 11 00:00:46,570 --> 00:00:53,390 And we're celebrating as well. Really, today was a great day for NuSTAR, great day for Pegasus, 12 00:00:53,390 --> 00:00:58,820 great day for the entire launch team, both on the government side as well as the contractor side. 13 00:00:58,820 --> 00:01:06,680 So, we thank Orbital Sciences for the ride and we're ready to get into the science portion of the NuSTAR mission. 14 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:12,360 We had very nominal preparations for launch today. 15 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:20,080 As we were powering up the spacecraft we saw an indication that we needed to study a little bit. 16 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:25,180 So, we spent a little bit of time, delayed our target drop time by about a half-hour. 17 00:01:25,180 --> 00:01:32,360 Albert Sierra was on with you a little bit earlier and explained that. We did the necessary investigation, 18 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:39,740 talked to the vendor, did some drawing research, our engineering team analyzed the condition, found it acceptable. 19 00:01:39,740 --> 00:01:44,570 And we proceeded on with all of the aircraft preparations at Kwajalein 20 00:01:44,570 --> 00:01:54,400 on the L-1011 and had wheels up a little bit after 11 a.m. Eastern time. 21 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,380 George Diller/Launch Commentator: The flight itself, what did you see as far as data 22 00:01:58,380 --> 00:02:03,400 and coming back from the Orbital side of the house how the flight went. 23 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,170 Tim Dunn/NuSTAR Assistant Launch Director: The flight of the Pegasus, we had a nominal drop right 24 00:02:07,170 --> 00:02:11,640 at our target drop time, a little bit after noon Eastern time. 25 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:17,020 First stage burn was right down the middle of the corridor, very nominal, 26 00:02:17,020 --> 00:02:20,250 as well as the second and third stage burns. 27 00:02:20,250 --> 00:02:26,440 So, the performance of the Pegasus launch vehicle was right on the money, George,and we're really thrilled. 28 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,660 George Diller/Launch Commentator: Well, we've heard it looks like the orbit is 29 00:02:30,660 --> 00:02:35,910 nominal and the solar arrays are out, so it looks like we've got a good launch 30 00:02:35,910 --> 00:02:41,110 and a good flight and a good mission that is now under way for the NuSTAR team. 31 00:02:41,110 --> 00:02:42,250 Tim Dunn/NuSTAR Assistant Launch Director: Absolutely. 32 00:02:42,250 --> 00:02:46,970 George Diller/Launch Commentator: We've got another Pegasus coming up at the beginning of next year. 33 00:02:46,970 --> 00:02:53,010 Can you tell us a little bit about when that launch will be and where that's going from and about that one? 34 00:02:53,010 --> 00:02:56,990 Tim Dunn/NuSTAR Assistant Launch Director: Yes. Our next mission on Pegasus will be the IRIS mission. 35 00:02:56,990 --> 00:03:03,920 And that is scheduled on the Western Range for the early part of 2013. 36 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:10,450 So, right now, we're looking at a launch opportunity in the January or February timeframe on the Western Range. 37 00:03:10,450 --> 00:03:19,330 We've begun processing the Pegasus for that mission in Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base and we're very 38 00:03:19,330 --> 00:03:25,690 excited to have another NASA science payload to launch on this great vehicle. 39 00:03:25,690 --> 00:03:32,040 George Diller/Launch Commentator: All right, same facility we saw in our video getting this Pegasus ready to fly. 40 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:39,850 And we've gotten confirmation through the spacecraft team, they've gotten a good lock on the, 41 00:03:39,850 --> 00:03:45,910 with the TDRS spacecraft, and the spacecraft is still reorienting. 42 00:03:45,910 --> 00:03:49,110 Getting ready to point fully into the sun point attitude. 43 00:03:49,110 --> 00:03:55,130 But at this point it seems that we had a successful launch,