ALR-M2 lunar mission

[fausto]

Antares - Verrazzano separation confirmed at 19:30 UTC when both spacecrafts were flying over Aristarchus crater. Everything is ready for tomorrow's Trans Earth Injection scheduled for 20:12:20 UTC

---------- Post added 10-28-13 at 08:37 PM ---------- Previous post was 10-27-13 at 10:22 PM ----------

Trans Lunar Injection T - 35 minutes. Live coverage will start soon!

http://www.livestream.com/orbiterlivemissions

---------- Post added 10-29-13 at 10:18 AM ---------- Previous post was 10-28-13 at 08:37 PM ----------

Return burn was performed perfectly. Now Antares is on its way back home!

Replay:

http://www.livestream.com/orbiterlivemissions/video?clipId=pla_61524b02-f335-4736-bcca-1e4f23ee5c98

 

[romanasul]

This is absolutely beautiful. I'm curious though how do you perform something like this, I mean launching at the exact time to intercept an object in lunar orbit? I've done successful slingshots before but this seems very complicated.

 

[IronRain]

IMFD is your friend (IMHO). You can select a spacecraft you want to rendezvouz with after insertion. You can also give the ammount of orbits before you want to rendezvouz IIRC.

 

[fausto]

This morning a minor mid course correction was performed. Antares in now 361'000 km (238,000 miles) away from Earth and its velocity is 0.466 km/s (0.307 miles/sec).

Splashdown is scheduled for Sunday November 3rd at 20:07:00 UTC in the Atlantic Ocean

 

[fausto]

Today live coverage to see final ALR-M2 mission return trip. Top event of this day will start at 19:30 UTC when Antares command module will be separated from service module preparing for atmospheric impact. Splashdown is scheduled for 20:07:20 UTC.

Live coverage now

http://www.livestream.com/orbiterlivemissions

---------- Post added at 08:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 AM ----------

Reentry T - 40 minutes

---------- Post added at 09:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:25 PM ----------

Splashdown confirmed!!

Partial replay:
http://www.livestream.com/orbiterlivemissions/video?clipId=pla_b586d226-9283-48c5-a964-2f0afad24c67