Fly Me to the Moon

I just got off my first shift of the flight about 25 minutes ago…this is a day I will never forget.  I was very confident we’d launch today, but then storm clouds advanced from the North, anticipated for arrival over Cape Canaveral at the time of our scheduled first launch opportunity.  My confidence dropped a notch or two.  Sure enough, with time to spare, the launch team opted to push to our third and final instantaneous opportunity to avoid the weather with greatest certainty.  Our launch hung in the balance, with weather on one side, and a the launch countdown progressing methodically on the other.  Magically, with about 13 minutes until the T-Zero time, the launch site weather classification changed from Red to Green, and the countdown marched without further hesitation.  We realized it was almost inevitable at that point.  Then…Liftoff! 

The Flight Team watched the feed from NASA TV from the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) at NASA Ames as we at once cheered this early success, and grew accustomed to the gravity of this new and suddenly very real responsibility – the success of LCROSS was certainly ours to keep, or to lose.  The cameras mounted on the Centaur provided excellent views of the receding Earth, our burst from the low-lying cloud cover into sunshine, our booster separation, and payload fairing jettison.  The forward-looking camera captured LCROSS and its prominent Star Tracker as the fairing opened and exposed it directly to space for the first time. 

At this point, time seemed to slow for a while as our primary focus became setting up our ground antennas for acquisition.  As we approached our expected power-up time, the DSN began tracking the Centaur carrier signal and we knew they’d be on target to find LCROSS, as long as it could begin transmitting.  Then the Centaur sent its commands and time accelerated.  Right on time, the DSN at Canberra found our carrier and locked on to our telemetry signal.  Data, and initial signs of life.  Everything indicated a healthy spacecraft.  Our training kicked in, and we were operating just as we had in all of our rehearsals of Activation & Checkout. 

The spacecraft has been a joy so far.  No major issues to report (if there were, I honestly wouldn’t be able to report them like this anyhow, but you’ll have to take my word for it).  We’re learning LCROSS ideosyncracies now – the realities that differ from the ideal behaviors models predict.  So, cautious optimism so far.  Our timeline this evening progressed a little more slowly than expected, though our final attitude control handover from the Centaur to LCROSS, triggered by Centaur hydrazine depletion, was a lot earlier than expected.  We rolled with the change, and kept on pushing.  Incidentally, preliminary indications are that our Atlas and Centaur placed LCROSS into a very nice orbit. Our Nav team will refine those initial estimates tonight.

Just an hour ago, Shift A left Shift B with a healthy spacecraft.  Shift B will perform a full shakedown of our attitude control system, and run through our available downlink communications rates.  Then they’ll oversee planning for our first Trajectory Correction Maneuver, TCM 1, and our first powerup and checkout of the LCROSS science payload.  And Shift A comes back in tomorrow to execute them both.  TCM 1: burn start at 4:15 PM Pacific.  Quicklook later the same day.

I will not likely be able to write like this every day, but I could not resist telling you all how this day went.  Thank you everyone for your pre-launch good wishes.  We got more than we bargained for today!  GO LCROSS!

15 thoughts on “Fly Me to the Moon”

  1. Is there a schedule of when or if NASA TV will be showing live video of the mission? I watched the launch but would also like to see more.

  2. Way to fly, NASA & LCROSS!

    Thank you for the great blogging, Mr. Tompkins!

    I believe LRO/LCROSS is of the most vital importance. Humankind has all of its eggs in one basket, the current P’sTB are taking their money to the east, and the US needs the impetus to colonize where it is actually cool to do so before we really get mired into a stagnant economy and end up on the sidelines. Who needs porkulus when we can have an envigorating (and friendly) space race! To mention 2012 (oh noes!) or one of those NEOs getting us all :-/

    No pressure or anything 😛

    .

  3. I am very happy to hear that everything is running smoothly so far!

    I wish the mission the best success it can have.

  4. I am very happy to hear that everything is running smoothly so far!

    I wish the mission the best success it can have.

  5. Hi Paul,

    Thank you for the personal account of the launch! Congratulations on a successful launch and early checkout. As the spacecraft settles in its new environment, I am confident that the LCROSS team will learn, adapt, and be accustomed to LCROSS in space. I encourage you to keep us informed – and for non-spaceflight flyers to understand this is how it really works!

    Congratulations!

    –Robbie

  6. Paul,
    Congrats!!! I just came across this page and think it’s an awesome idea. This is a great way for me to stay in the loop since I can’t be in the control room so please update as frequently as you can.

  7. Congratulations on a fantastic launch and good first shift! Keep the posts coming…

  8. Paul…congrats to the whole team. I know yesterday was a long time coming. My biggest surprise of the launch was how slow the Atlas V lifts off. It seemed like it took awhile to pick up speed and get through the clouds.

    While we’ve mostly worked with Dan, Tony, Kim and Mark…I hope we get a chance to meet some of the rest of the crew (including you!) and tell some the other stories behind the LCROSS mission.

    Best from the Video Group at Ames…and once again…congratulations to all!

    Bill Moede
    Editor and Producer

  9. Huzzah! Nicely done Paul. This is a pretty momentous day. And more importantly than all this fancy launching stuff into space that *you* do. *I* get to tell people that I know the guy who’s going to crash millions of dollars into the moon. 😉

    Congrats again! I’m looking forward to more posts.
    C

  10. Watching the launch live here in the UK made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Congratulations and here’s to a sucessful mission.

  11. Paul, and team … awesome and good luck!!!! Exciting days for ARC and our colleagues.

    MXS

  12. Congratulations LCROSS team! Great job getting this thing off to a strong start. Best wishes on your way to the Moon!

  13. Great blog, Paul! I had many of the same feelings yesterday down here in the ROC, but you’ve put them into just the right words…they’re going directly to the printer for inclusion in NG’s LCROSS scrapbook. Launch Day was definitely a VERY VERY GOOD day for LCROSS, and you did a great job as Flight Director! Looking forward to working with you all the way to Cabeus (or where ever Tony C wants us to go). -Craig

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