{"id":39243,"date":"2011-09-11T15:45:09","date_gmt":"2011-09-11T15:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/grail-launch-scrubbed-for-today\/"},"modified":"2011-09-11T15:45:09","modified_gmt":"2011-09-11T15:45:09","slug":"grail-launch-scrubbed-for-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/astronomy\/grail-launch-scrubbed-for-today.php","title":{"rendered":"GRAIL Launch Scrubbed for Today"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The twin GRAIL spacecraft sit on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Florida. Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/United Launch Alliance, Thom Baur<\/p><\/div>

The GRAIL spacecraft were set to launch this morning but the launch was scrubbed due to upper level winds. The launch will be attempted again tomorrow at 08:33 a.m. EDT and if that is not “a go” there is another chance at 09:12 a.m. EDT.<\/p>

There will be a launch blog <\/a>up and running at 06:00 a.m. EDT. You can watch online with a live chat on Ustream TV<\/a>, and by the way this is a pretty fun way to go and there is also Twitter at http:\/\/twitter.com\/NASAJPL<\/a><\/a> and http:\/\/twitter.com\/NASA<\/a><\/a> are good choice especially if you can watch NASA TV.<\/p>

Me? Um, I think I’ll be watching at the Ustream link.<\/p>

NASA<\/a> put a interesting launch milestone list up, so I included it here:<\/p>

Launch<\/strong>
At liftoff, the rocket’s first-stage engine and six of its nine strap-on solid rocket motors will ignite, and the rocket will be airborne, carrying GRAIL up and over the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>

First six solid rocket motors are jettisoned<\/strong>
GRAIL’s Delta II is carrying nine strap-on graphite-epoxy motors. The first six will be ignited at the time of liftoff. The remaining three will be ignited shortly after the first six strap-on motors burn out.<\/p>

Fairing separates<\/strong>
After the Delta’s first stage completes its tour of duty, its second stage, which will provide 9,645 pounds of kick for GRAIL, will begin the first of two scheduled burns.<\/p>

Shortly after ignition of the rocket’s second stage, the Delta’s 30-foot-long (8.88-meter-long) nose cone, or fairing, will separate and be jettisoned as planned, providing the GRAIL twins with their first taste of exo-atmospheric existence.<\/p>

Parking at 17,500 miles per hour<\/strong>
The Delta’s second stage will temporarily stop firing, as planned, and the rocket and GRAIL will begin a planned coast phase, also known as a “parking orbit” at about 90 miles (nearly 167 kilometers up).<\/p>

GRAIL heading from Earth to the moon<\/strong>
The Delta’s second stage will begin a second burn. This approximately four-and-a-half-minute-long burn will place GRAIL on its desired trajectory to the moon.<\/p>

Spacecraft begin to separate from second stage<\/strong>
The GRAIL-A spacecraft begins its separation process from the Delta’s second stage. The GRAIL-B spacecraft separates about 8 minutes later. At this point, the moon is three-and-a-half months away.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The twin GRAIL spacecraft sit on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Florida. Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/United Launch Alliance, Thom BaurThe GRAIL spacecraft were set to launch this morning but the launch was scrubbed due to upper level … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}