{"id":37615,"date":"2020-05-08T20:48:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T12:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/ula-in-final-pre-launch-preps-for-atlas-v-ussf-7-mission-next-week\/"},"modified":"2020-05-08T20:48:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T12:48:06","slug":"ula-in-final-pre-launch-preps-for-atlas-v-ussf-7-mission-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/ula-in-final-pre-launch-preps-for-atlas-v-ussf-7-mission-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"ULA in final pre-launch preps for Atlas V USSF-7 mission next week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>United Launch Alliance is proceeding smoothly through the final round of preflight elements of the Atlas V rocket tasked with launching the U.S. Space Force\u2019s X-37B spaceplane on its sixth mission next week.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Atlas V 501 rocket is slated to lift off from SLC-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Saturday, 16 May.&nbsp; The precise launch time this day has not yet been released by United Launch Alliance or the U.S. Space Force.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, everything is going quite smoothly with the Atlas V\u2019s flow toward its launch next weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Stacking of the Atlas V booster and the Centaur upper stage proceeded without incident at SLC-41 beginning in late-April. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully completed booster checkout ahead of the encapsulated X-37B spaceplane arriving at the pad earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>The payload was hoisted up and mated to the top of the rocket on Tuesday, 5 May, and has since undergone dedicated spacecraft checkouts \u2014 confirming the independent health of the booster and the spaceplane.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning on Saturday, 9 May, ULA will perform integrated system checks of the entire vehicle\/payload stack.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-66234\" class=\"size-full wp-image-66234\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52-350x233.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52-526x350.jpeg 526w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52-1920x1279.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52-1170x779.jpeg 1170w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52-585x390.jpeg 585w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/506D554D-51FB-4A35-A315-A71F0B8DBD52-263x175.jpeg 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-66234\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Atlas V booster for the USSF-7 mission arrives at SLC-41 for stacking operations. (Credit: United Launch Alliance)<\/p>\n<p>According to Tony Taliancich, Director and General Manager of Launch Operations, United Launch Alliance In an interview with NASASpaceflight on Friday, 8 May, \u201cTomorrow, on Saturday, we\u2019re going to do integrated system checks \u2014 that\u2019s testing the whole launch vehicle-satellite stack to ensure everything is operating properly.<\/p>\n<p>Astronomy<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Space Technology<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Space tourism guides<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>\n<p>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then essentially next week we get into closeouts and launch.&nbsp; It\u2019s a very simple and straightforward process, a couple days of closing up all the compartments and checking out everything and having our engineering team go through and walk down everything and check out and make sure [everything\u2019s] right.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>UPDATES: Atlas V\/USSF-7<\/li>\n<li>ULA Section<\/li>\n<li>Future Vehicles Section<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After that, teams will come in and roll the Atlas V rocket out to its seaside launchpad on Thursday, 14 May.<\/p>\n<p>Friday the 15th will be a Crew Rest Day with no work performed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The launch team will then arrive on console just after midnight local time (just after 04:00 UTC) on Saturday, 16 May to activate Atlas V\u2019s systems and prepare for countdown, fueling, and launch operations.<\/p>\n<p>A precise launch time for this mission on 16 May has not been released by United Launch Alliance or the U.S. Space Force.<\/p>\n<p>However, the 45th Space Wing, which oversees all launch and safety operations at the Florida spaceport, is preparing for two launches roughly 36 hours apart from each other \u2014 with the Falcon 9 following Atlas V on Monday, 18 May at 03:09 EDT (07:09 UTC).<\/p>\n<p>Given Falcon 9\u2019s launch time is public, this would translate to a \u201cmid-morning\u201d local time (early afternoon UTC) launch of Atlas V on Saturday, 16 May.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1226188417974898688&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2020%2F05%2Fula-launch-preps-ussf-7%2F&amp;sessionId=913d72b873a2832efe4fd725a0d1d2954bd1044c&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1226188417974898688\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783498802489530767=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A beautiful morning on the Space Coast as the unique Atlas V 411  configuration made its way to SLC-41 with ESA\u2019s #SolarOrbiter.<\/p>\n<p>Follow along as we cover this exciting international collaboration  at https:\/\/t.co\/OQwM6qtoKI<\/p>\n<p>Launch is set for Sunday February 9 at 11:03pm EST pic.twitter.com\/Ri1flet6sU<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nathan Barker (@NASA_Nerd) February 8, 2020<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The precise launch time is expected to be revealed a couple of days prior to launch.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s even more impressive about this particular mission is that United Launch Alliance advanced the launch by four days, pulling it forward from 20 May.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the end we were able to absorb some of the margin that we had and bring the launch date back a few days from where we had originally, notionally been planning it,\u201d noted Mr. Taliancich.&nbsp; \u201cTypically, when we set our manifest, we have planning dates that are out there.&nbsp; With some of these missions, you start out with a nominal schedule, and you accommodate potential risks.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo as we got into this flow more, we were able to kind of look at everything and see where we were with the spacecraft and the launch vehicle.&nbsp; And we decided we could pull it back a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This directly benefits the next mission in ULA\u2019s manifest, NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover \u2014 which is slated to launch on 17 July.<\/p>\n<p>Perseverance must launch within a very short 20-day interplanetary launch window to Mars or stand down for 26 months.<\/p>\n<p>This extra margin is important as United Launch Alliance adds additional margin for schedule protection into interplanetary launch mission flows (like that of Perseverance) as well as performs a Wet Dress Rehearsal (full fueling of the rocket on the pad) which takes up additional time in the pre-launch processing elements for interplanetary missions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Atlas V OTV-3 Launch Highlights\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KxQbex7LJwg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid0\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Back in December when NASA and ULA were still protecting for a potential Spring 2020 Starliner Crew Flight Test, ULA said there was room in the manifest in May, but that the pad had to be turned over for the Perseverance mission by late-May.<\/p>\n<p>So how long does USSF-7 have to launch before ULA would have to potentially destack and delay the mission to protect Perserverance\u2019s launch window in July?<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Taliancich declined to provide a specific date or general time frame for when the pad must be turned over, noting that ULA has \u201csignificant margin to be able to support that interplanetary mission date.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Taliancich continued, saying, \u201cWe know where the risk areas are.&nbsp; We plan for that.&nbsp; And we believe for [Perseverance], especially having moved [USSF-7] up a few days, that we\u2019re in good shape to be able to hit the opening of the window date on the 17th of July.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the USSF-7 mission will be the 139th mission for United Launch Alliance since its founding in 2006 and the 84th mission of the Atlas V rocket.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the Atlas V configuration, this will be the seventh flight of the 501 variant, flying with a 5-meter payload fairing (5), no solid rocket motors (0), and a single-engine Centaur upper stage (1).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>(Lead Image: An Atlas V rocket launches a previous X-37B mission. Credit: ULA.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United Launch Alliance is proceeding smoothly through the final round of preflight elements of the Atlas V rocket tasked with launching the U.S. Space Force\u2019s X-37B spaceplane on its sixth mission next week.&nbsp; The Atlas V 501 rocket is slated to lift off from SLC-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Saturday, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37617,"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":[7758,2113,332,363,8907],"class_list":["post-37615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-v","tag-otv","tag-space-force","tag-ula","tag-x37b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37615"}],"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=37615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}