1 00:00:01,069 --> 00:00:02,340 George Diller, NASA Communications and Launch Commentator: "This is Atlas launch 2 00:00:02,340 --> 00:00:03,590 control. 3 00:00:03,590 --> 00:00:06,450 We are now 23 minutes, 33 seconds into the mission. 4 00:00:06,450 --> 00:00:15,129 The flight of the Atlas V and the Cygnus module now on its way toward a rendezvous 5 00:00:15,129 --> 00:00:18,490 with the International Space Station. 6 00:00:18,490 --> 00:00:21,300 Vern, wonder if you could give us a quick snapshot 7 00:00:21,300 --> 00:00:27,369 of what you saw when the rocket went up hill how did it look in terms of the flight of 8 00:00:30,449 --> 00:00:28,369 the 9 00:00:30,449 --> 00:00:33,180 Vern Thorp: "It was a beautiful launch, George. 10 00:00:33,180 --> 00:00:34,200 Everything was very nominal. 11 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:35,240 I can tell 12 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:41,150 you that the Atlas booster phase of flight -- the Atlas booster performed slightly above 13 00:00:41,150 --> 00:00:43,539 nominal, so that's a good thing. 14 00:00:43,539 --> 00:00:46,820 The predicted times of one event occurred -- we're very 15 00:00:46,820 --> 00:00:50,930 close the actual very close to the pre-flight predictions. 16 00:00:50,930 --> 00:00:53,019 I can tell you that booster engine 17 00:00:53,019 --> 00:00:59,149 cutoff occurred within a tenth of a second of our prediction and main engine cutoff, 18 00:00:59,149 --> 00:01:03,410 when we inserted the Cygnus module into orbit was within two seconds of the preflight 19 00:01:03,410 --> 00:01:08,640 predilections which is well within the expected variation. 20 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:10,500 Looks like we nailed the orbit 21 00:01:10,500 --> 00:01:17,479 once again and in a few minutes we'll go off and get initial look at the data but at this 22 00:01:17,479 --> 00:01:21,840 point everything looks very nominal looks like a very accurate orbit insertion. 23 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:22,840 I know the 24 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,951 spacecraft folks are getting some data from the spacecraft now and it looks we're going 25 00:01:26,951 --> 00:01:30,140 to have full comm. in about five or six minutes from now. 26 00:01:30,140 --> 00:01:31,200 We're looking forward to 27 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,380 hearing from them -- how things are going." 28 00:01:33,380 --> 00:01:40,720 George Diller, "Vern, as a matter of interest the Centaur now, to compete the mission 29 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,620 of the Atlas V and United Launch Alliance, had some things to do." 30 00:01:44,620 --> 00:01:46,270 Vern Thorp: "Yes, exactly. 31 00:01:46,270 --> 00:01:49,299 So, as soon as we separate, we immediately begin what we 32 00:01:49,299 --> 00:01:50,681 call a C-Cam maneuver to. 33 00:01:50,681 --> 00:01:53,000 That's a collision and contamination avoidance maneuver. 34 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,479 The idea is to back away from the spacecraft so that there is no chance for re-contact 35 00:01:58,479 --> 00:02:04,719 and so that there's no possibility of contamination from the maneuvering thrusters we 36 00:02:04,719 --> 00:02:06,470 have on Centaur. 37 00:02:06,470 --> 00:02:09,981 About half an hour after separation, I think it's about 27 minutes, we 38 00:02:09,981 --> 00:02:12,510 will actually do another short engine burn. 39 00:02:12,510 --> 00:02:15,190 It will last about 11 or 12 seconds. 40 00:02:15,190 --> 00:02:20,340 The reason we're doing that is to do a controlled de-orbit of the Centaur upper stage 41 00:02:20,340 --> 00:02:25,940 and that will bring the stage down just a little over an hour after liftoff. 42 00:02:25,940 --> 00:02:27,130 So, what's that, 43 00:02:27,130 --> 00:02:29,210 probably about a half an hour now? 44 00:02:29,210 --> 00:02:31,920 It will bring it down south of Australia over open 45 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:36,830 water and that's a planned de-orbit se we don't have to worry about orbital debris from 46 00:02:36,830 --> 00:02:38,250 the upper stage. 47 00:02:38,250 --> 00:02:42,170 So, once were done with that our launch vehicle mission will be 48 00:02:42,170 --> 00:02:43,170 complete. 49 00:02:43,170 --> 00:02:46,760 Of course the primary mission is to deliver Cygnus to orbit looks like it has 50 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,330 been successful and we'll get confirmation on that shortly. 51 00:02:49,330 --> 00:02:53,561 George Diller, "Well, Vern congratulations on a successful launch and I know we have 52 00:02:53,561 --> 00:03:01,230 very much enjoyed having the Orbital Cygnus ATK people here at Kennedy and 53 00:03:01,230 --> 00:03:08,590 processing through Kennedy facilities and have been very enjoy able to work with and 54 00:03:08,590 --> 00:03:13,310 hopefully they'll come back and bring us another module at some point in the future. 55 00:03:13,310 --> 00:03:15,130 Vern Thorp: Yeah, we look forward to doing it again. 56 00:03:15,130 --> 00:03:16,200 And they are a great team to work 57 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:17,200 with. 58 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,170 Love working with them hope we can all do it again soon. 59 00:03:19,170 --> 00:03:23,540 George Diller, Yes, exactly, right they are a very good payload test team. 60 00:03:23,540 --> 00:03:25,220 Vern, thanks very much. 61 00:03:25,220 --> 00:03:28,150 Look forward to seeing you on the post-launch new conference 62 00:03:28,150 --> 00:03:33,530 later on and again thank you and congratulations on what appears to be a at this point a 63 00:03:33,530 --> 00:03:35,370 very successful launch of the Atlas V. 64 00:03:35,370 --> 00:03:37,670 Vern Thorp: Thank you George, we'll see you in a while. 65 00:03:37,670 --> 00:03:43,400 George Diller, And, we're now 27 minutes, 10 seconds into the flight of the Atlas V