{"id":15352,"date":"2016-07-27T21:12:46","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T13:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/atlas-5-nrol-61-launch-timeline\/"},"modified":"2016-07-27T21:12:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T13:12:46","slug":"atlas-5-nrol-61-launch-timeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/atlas-5-nrol-61-launch-timeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlas 5\/NROL-61 launch timeline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow the unclassified portion of the Atlas 5 rocket\u2019s ascent to space from Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 41 launch pad with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office\u2019s NROL-61 satellite. Launch is scheduled for Thursday at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT).<\/p>\n

T+00:01.1: Liftoff<\/strong>
\n\"Launch
\nThe United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 vehicle, designated AV-065, will lift off and begin a vertical rise away from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.<\/p>\n

T+00:47: Mach 1 and Max Q<\/strong>
\n\"2\"
\nThe Atlas rocket achieves Mach 1 some 47 seconds into the flight, then passes through the region of maximum dynamic pressure at 52 seconds.<\/p>\n

T+02:09 Jettison SRBs<\/strong>
\n\"srbs\"
\nHaving burned out of propellant approximately 40 seconds earlier, the spent solid rocket boosters are jettisoned once dynamic pressure conditions are satisfied.<\/p>\n

T+04:10: Main Engine Cutoff<\/strong>
\n\"3\"
\nThe RD-180 main engine completes its firing after consuming the load of RP-1 kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen supply in the Atlas first stage.<\/p>\n

T+04:16: Stage Separation<\/strong>
\n\"4\"
\nThe Common Core Booster first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket separates from the Centaur upper stage. Over the next few seconds, the Centaur engine liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen systems are readied for ignition.<\/p>\n

T+04:26: Centaur Ignition No. 1<\/strong>
\n\"5\"
\nThe Centaur RL10 engine ignites to inject the Centaur stage and NROL-61 spacecraft into orbit.<\/p>\n

T+04:34: Nose Cone Jettison<\/strong>
\n\"6\"
\nThe two-piece, 14-foot-diameter payload fairing that protected the NROL-61 craft during the atmospheric ascent is separated to reveal the satellite to space.<\/p>\n

The mission now enters a news blackout to perform the orbit-shaping and payload deployment for the National Reconnaissance Office in secrecy.<\/p>\n

See earlier NROL-61 coverage.<\/p>\n

Our Atlas archive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Follow the unclassified portion of the Atlas 5 rocket\u2019s ascent to space from Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 41 launch pad with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office\u2019s NROL-61 satellite. Launch is scheduled for Thursday at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT). T+00:01.1: Liftoff The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 vehicle, designated AV-065, will lift off and begin a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3222,724,3648,848,3649,750],"class_list":["post-15352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ascent","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-065","tag-national-reconnaissance-office","tag-nrol-61","tag-united-launch-alliance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}