START YOUR ENGINES: "This is Mission Control ..."
At 6:30 this morning, those four words crackling through the TV speaker woke CJ and Annabelle from a deep slumber to a sitting-bolt-upright position. I have trained them well. :)
We started our day with a launch at the Space Coast. Unfortunately, we weren't there in person, but we had it on two big screens and the computer. Good enough!
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off right at 7:10 our time, per schedule. Picture perfect! We watched it progress through main engine cut-off (MECO), second stage cut off and Dragon separation. A minute and a half later, it was time for the solar arrays to deploy. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch. Until ... live coverage was abruptly ended. Odd. And so I turned to the Twitterverse to see what the heck was happening.
Immediately, multiple Tweets about the solar arrays not deploying. How quickly nominal had changed to 'anomaly.' Uh oh.
Without the solar arrays, Dragon would have 18 hours of battery power before it became completely dead in orbit. Not good.
Soon, theories and rumors were flying. Based on what I read from sources I trust, I quickly came to believe
the root of the problem wasn't the solar arrays, but rather that three of four thruster pods had failed to initiate. Without those, Dragon didn't have the proper attitude to deploy the solar shields.
Pretty soon Mr. SpaceX himself, Elon Musk, started filling in blanks for us. Smart move. Why not dictate your own story?
Elon Musk
Issue with Dragon thruster pods. System inhibiting three of four from initializing. About to command inhibit override.
Holding on solar array deployment until at least two thruster pods are active
About to pass over Australia ground station and command inhibit override
Thruster pod 3 tank pressure trending positive. Preparing to deploy solar arrays.
Solar array deployment successful
Attempting bring up of thruster pods 2 and 4
And then 4-5 hours later, after the first 'uh oh' Tweet
Pods 1 and 4 now online and thrusters engaged. Dragon transitioned from free drift to active control. Yes!!
Thruster pods one through four are now operating nominally. Preparing to raise orbit. All systems green.
Orbit raising burn successful. Dragon back on track.
And then this evening
Just want to say thanks to @NASA for being the world's coolest customer. Looking forward to delivering the goods!
Would also like to thank @USAirForce for allowing us to use their long range comm system for Dragon in free drift.
All in all, it was clearly a very cooperative effort with a whole lot of highly competent, can-do types bringing their A game, collaborating to work a problem- and solve it! Bravo!
The berthing with the ISS has been delayed a day, but so what!? Not too many hours ago, the mission was in jeopardy of being an abysmal failure.
CELEBRATING SEUSS: No doubt about what's on the menu for breakfast tomorrow morning: Green eggs and ham! March 2 is Theodor Geisel's birthday. We've also got a big ol' stack of Seuss books for the kids to read tonight and tomorrow!
ON THE MOVE: Between programming, dance and acting classes, the kids had time to get some exercise. Here they are on their 'couch' at a West Seattle park.
Having a technical problem and solving it demonstrates more technical skill than a perfect initial effort. Bravo SpaceX.
ReplyDeleteLike those half handstands. Bravo MPAers