Rocket launches LIVE.

BigWave said:

Hey RJ.
Just a clarification for some readers, there is no "dark side" of the moon, (as was sung by Pink Floyd), just as there is no constant "dark side" of the Earth.
The moon has days and nights, however its is ~29.5 Earth days.
There is a far side of the moon (as the moon is Earth synchronous), but not a constant "dark side"
As it will be Half Moon on 15th Dec, I guess that just means they'll be landing on the Earth facing side, but just into the dark half - lunar night (they'll still need constant comms with Earth).
That way, the landing craft will be protected by the moon during the critical landing from solar particles etc (I'm guessing).
Then, in a few days the sun will have risen there, so they can get better happy snaps.

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No, the Chinese lander/rover mission is headed for the far, hitherto unexplored side:
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/07/asia/china-lunar-rover-far-moon-intl/index.html

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/CJvSzJphgT8[/video]

Thanks for the update grubstake.
I guess they'll need an orbiter then to relay data with the Earth station.

Yeah I shoulda said far side , not dark side but then you mob whould tell me about cartoons....

BigWave said:

Thanks for the update grubstake.
I guess they'll need an orbiter then to relay data with the Earth station.

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Apparently they launched a moon-orbiting relay communications satellite back in May:
https://qz.com/1281622/from-the-moo...en-for-ancient-clues-to-the-universes-origin/

I think Rocketlab Launch has been pushed back as on my countdown site it's saying 23hr:54min and counting down....

I love 'the Far Side' :lol: ... Shame he has stopped Drawing(several years ago)... I have quite a few of his books.... :/

LW.....

LoneWolf said:

I think Rocketlab Launch has been pushed back as on my countdown site it's saying 23hr:54min and counting down....

I love 'the Far Side' :lol: ... Shame he has stopped Drawing(several years ago)... I have quite a few of his books.... :/

LW.....

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Thanks LW. I started work at and couldn't work why I couldn't find any videos.

LoneWolf said:

I think Rocketlab Launch has been pushed back as on my countdown site it's saying 23hr:54min and counting down....

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Bad weather, according to their twitter feed. The launch window is 13-21 December, so fingers crossed that it clears before the storms presently hammering the East coast of Australia make it across the Tasman.

It's a launch of CubeSats for NASA, so they're playing with the big boys now! :clap:

The new Electron launch date is 3 pm Sunday.

Very interesting info from Gwynne Shotwell, Spacex CEO.

Virgin Galatic have reched space with humans on board, beating Spacex and Blue origin to be the first private company to do so..... Or have they?

They reached a height of 82.7 kilometres. "That's above the 50-mile (80 km) boundary that the United States Air Force uses when handing out astronaut wings, but below the more famous "Karman Line" at 62 miles (100 km) up. The Karman Line is perhaps more commonly accepted; for example, it was the target altitude for the Ansari X Prize, which offered $10 million to the first private team to launch a reusable crewed craft to space twice within a two-week span."

So they reached space only by the US Air force definition. Not true space in my opinion. Still a great achievement and Congratulations to all involved.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/OOp9s32OYhs[/video]

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/h0-EokQLohQ[/video]

The HiRise Mars orbiter has snapped some images of the InSight lander. Cool.

https://www.uahirise.org/releases/i...nzmlWgxX23daCweAhPmSPJgMAztu7qDNbVjsO2CimC3iw

Looks like Richard Branson wants to launch from S.A.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news...t/news-story/719de3e71af68d7bdb6803d1eafe4ffe

Wishfull said:

Looks like Richard Branson wants to launch from S.A.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news...t/news-story/719de3e71af68d7bdb6803d1eafe4ffe

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I can only see one sentence. Do we have to join to see the whole story?

Dam. I have looked around. Seems this is a locked ADVERTISER news item.
There has to be someone else reporting this.
Sorry guys.

Rocketlab will attempt to launch the Electron for the NASA ELANA-19 mission at 5.16 pm this afternoon.

https://www.rocketlabusa.com/live-stream

Everyday Astronaut live coverage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSiN65J5dP8

Fingers crossed it will go ahead.... I just checked and it's 1hr 55min till launch... Good to see NASA is on board with the Kiwi's and trust their launches...

LW....

Who's watching? I am watching Tim Dodd from work. Hope to see it launch. Just been pushed back. 25 minutes to launch.

Go for launch in 15 minutes!

For those who missed the live launch. BTW Everyday Astronaut is still live and the kick stage and satellite deployment is coming up soon after a 40 minute cruise stage.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/KZwLJMPuos8[/video]

The Rocket Lab mission has now been successfully completed, with all of the cubesats deployed in their intended orbits. :clap:

:lol: We even got the 'Go for Launch' from the Sheep.... I thought that was pretty funny.... Well done Electron... :clap:

I thought the Kiwi's had painted their rocket black and white , till Tim Explained that it was ice on the Black Rocket... He does a good job in his Broadcasts explaining things...

LW....