George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: This is Delta launch Control. We're now
one hour, three minutes, 58 seconds into flight of Delta II with the SMAP spacecraft.
And at this time, we are joined by Tim Dunn, who is our NASA launch manager in
today's countdown and the flight of the Delta II.
And Tim, first of all take us right from the top, what have we just seen as far as the
spacecraft and the vehicle . . . and what do we look like?
Tim Dunn/NASA Launch Manager: We look great, George. I guess most people saw
that wonderful spacecraft separation video that we had transmitted back to us from our
African ground station.
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: Clear as a bell, clear as a bell.
Tim Dunn/NASA Launch Manager: It was spectacular. So you saw a clean spacecraft
separation from the Delta II second stage. And then a few, about 30 seconds later or
you saw the solar arrays begin to deploy. So we�ve got good telemetry from the
spacecraft so we're in contact with SMAP. Everything looks good right now. The initial
sequence of deployment of solar arrays is underway. And we just couldn't be happier.
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: And Delta II, from liftoff to the second
stage, how did that perform?
Tim Dunn/NASA Launch Manager: Delta II, it's a workhorse. That's what we call it.
And it's performed yet again. Had a beautiful performance during first-stage flight. We
had an initial burn of the second stage to put us into our insertion orbit. And then
we
coasted for roughly 40 minutes or so prior to an adjustment burn of the second stage
and then proceeded into spacecraft separation.
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: Well, the countdown was certainly like
our first attempt. And I mean all the way down to the last couple of minutes.
Tim Dunn/NASA Launch Manager: It was very similar, very similar. I just can�t say
enough about the team that we have. We had zero launch vehicle problems on Delta II.
We had zero spacecraft problems. The 30th Space Wing continues to provide rock-solid
support. Not a single range, piece of instrumentation went down. Absolutely spectacular
performance from all of the agencies contributing to the SMAP mission.
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: And who all is involved in that last
discussion about the upper-level winds and know we actually had a 'go' condition?
Tim Dunn/NASA Launch Manager: So obviously we were 'red' throughout the
countdown, like we were on our first attempt for upper-level winds. We had four
balloons that were released. All were returning 'red' data. Indicating that we just could
not find the correct trajectory and flight path to get through that maximum dynamic
pressure region of flight.
However, on that fourth balloon, we begin to see a little bit of improvement, although
the
numbers were �red,� we saw the ability, once those two additional balloons came in,
that
we could then get the appropriate curve-fits in and find our way. So we had indications
10 minutes prior to launch. We went ahead and adjusted the T-0 almost two minutes to
the right to give us just a little more time to do that processing.
But that�s a combined team of balloons being released here at Vandenberg Air Force
Base by the 30th Space Wing weather folks. And then that data is being collected here
locally, transmitted to the ULA Denver winds team in Denver, Colorado. They�re
crunching the numbers and finding us a way forward. So roughly at about L-10 minutes,
L-8 minutes, we saw that we were going to get some green data. And you immediately
saw us be able to tell that to the launch team and begin processing toward our T-0.
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: So it was a very coordinated effort there
in the last 10 minutes or so to get us to that last point where we knew we were �go.�
Tim Dunn/NASA Launch Manager: It was coordinated and it was even practiced. We
actually went through the same methodical techniques with the ULA Denver winds team
and the LSP winds analyst, working side by side evaluating that data. We did that on
the first attempt, but that last push that we made on that �remained �red� � today
was a
totally different story we were able to go green with that upper-level wind data and
it
resulted in us being able to have a successful launch.
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: Well Tim, it�s good that we�ve had
practically back-to-back successful Delta II launches. And we have a little gap here
now.
And then we got a couple of more I believe.
Tim Dunn/NASA Launch Manager: We do. On the heels the OCO-2 success last
summer here at Vandenberg, we now have SMAP, we have two remaining Delta II
NASA missions that are manifested. The first is a weather satellite called JPSS-1.
Currently we�re targeting November of 2016 here from Vandenberg, at SLC-2. And then
about six months to eight months after JPSS we have a mission called ICESat-2 that
we�re going to launch on Delta II.
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: Well Tim, thank you very much and
congratulations to you and the LSP team and we�re looking forward to seeing you back
at the Cape.
Tim Dunn/NASA Launch Manager: Oh great George, thank you so much.
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator: Thank you. And we�re now at T-plus one
hour, nine minutes, 25 seconds and counting.
This is Delta Launch Control