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Emily Lakdawalla • Sep 10, 2011
Here we go again: GRAIL set to launch today
GRAIL is trying for launch today at 8:29 PDT / 12:29 UT or 9:08 PDT / 6:08 UT., and here I am at 5:00 am my time ready to watch. As before, I'm watching the feed through Spaceflight Now's GRAIL mission status center. Another good place to watch will likely be JPL's Ustream channel. Here's the new launch timeline. Although the liftoff times are correct, the actual timelines after that may vary by a few seconds, especially after the first firing of the second stage. Every day that the launch is delayed, the two launch windows move earlier in the day by about four minutes.
| Launch Time: | 08:29:45 | 05:29:45 | 12:29:45 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | sec | EDT | PDT | UTC |
| Liftoff | 0.0 | 08:29:45 | 05:29:45 | 12:29:45 |
| Ground-lit solid rocket motor (SRM) ignition (6 rockets) | 0.2 | 08:29:45 | 05:29:45 | 12:29:45 |
| Mach 1 | 29.0 | 08:30:14 | 05:30:14 | 12:30:14 |
| Air-lit SRM ignition (6 rockets) | 79.0 | 08:31:04 | 05:31:04 | 12:31:04 |
| Ground-lit SRM jettison | 80.5 | 08:31:05 | 05:31:06 | 12:31:06 |
| Air-lit SRM jettison | 159.5 | 08:32:25 | 05:32:25 | 12:32:25 |
| Main engine cutoff (MECO) | 263.2 | 08:34:08 | 05:34:08 | 12:34:08 |
| First stage separation | 271.2 | 08:34:16 | 05:34:16 | 12:34:16 |
| Second stage ignition | 276.7 | 08:34:22 | 05:34:22 | 12:34:22 |
| Payload fairing jettison | 281.0 | 08:34:26 | 05:34:26 | 12:34:26 |
| Second stage first cutoff (SECO1) | 429.7 | 08:36:55 | 05:36:55 | 12:36:55 |
| Second stage restart | 4076.7 | 09:37:42 | 06:37:42 | 13:37:42 |
| Second stage second cutoff (SECO2) | 4348.8 | 09:42:14 | 06:42:14 | 13:42:14 |
| GRAIL-A separates Separation should be visible from a RocketCam. After separation, the solar panels will be commanded to deploy. | 4918.8 | 09:51:44 | 06:51:44 | 13:51:44 |
| GRAIL-B separates | 5413.8 | 09:59:59 | 06:59:59 | 13:59:59 |
| Event | sec | EDT | PDT | UTC |
| Launch Time: | 09:08:52 | 06:08:52 | 13:08:52 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | sec | EDT | PDT | UTC |
| Liftoff | 0.0 | 09:08:52 | 06:08:52 | 13:08:52 |
| Ground-lit solid rocket motor (SRM) ignition (6 rockets) | 0.2 | 09:08:52 | 06:08:52 | 13:08:52 |
| Mach 1 | 29.0 | 09:09:21 | 06:09:21 | 13:09:21 |
| Air-lit SRM ignition (6 rockets) | 79.0 | 09:10:11 | 06:10:11 | 13:10:11 |
| Ground-lit SRM jettison | 80.5 | 09:10:12 | 06:10:12 | 13:10:13 |
| Air-lit SRM jettison | 159.5 | 09:11:31 | 06:11:31 | 13:11:32 |
| Main engine cutoff (MECO) | 263.2 | 09:13:15 | 06:13:15 | 13:13:15 |
| First stage separation | 271.2 | 09:13:23 | 06:13:23 | 13:13:23 |
| Second stage ignition | 276.7 | 09:13:29 | 06:13:29 | 13:13:29 |
| Payload fairing jettison | 281.0 | 09:13:33 | 06:13:33 | 13:13:33 |
| Second stage first cutoff (SECO1) | 430.4 | 09:16:02 | 06:16:02 | 13:16:02 |
| Second stage restart | 3951.0 | 10:14:43 | 07:14:43 | 14:14:43 |
| Second stage second cutoff (SECO2) | 4222.7 | 10:19:15 | 07:19:15 | 14:19:15 |
| GRAIL-A separates Separation should be visible from a RocketCam. After separation, the solar panels will be commanded to deploy. | 4792.7 | 10:28:45 | 07:28:45 | 14:28:45 |
| GRAIL-B separates | 5287.7 | 10:37:00 | 07:37:00 | 14:37:00 |
| Event | sec | EDT | PDT | UTC |
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