00:0010, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, lift off.
00:23We're getting pitch over.
00:30Stage one, propulsion nominal.
00:48The Harvest Goddess is on her way to space for IQPS.
00:52Electron has launched cleanly off the pad at Launch Complex 1
00:56and is now coming up against 700 km per hour in just a second.
01:01We should hear from our operators that Electron has reached Max-Q,
01:05which is the point in the flight when Electron is experiencing maximum aerodynamic pressure.
01:10It's the first milestone as we listen out for the launch.
01:14So let's bring up the audio channels now from MCC.
01:22Clear at Max-Q.
01:34That was a nice clean pass through Max-Q for Electron
01:38and we are now about a minute or so away from staging and main engine cutoff on the first stage.
01:43Now, what should happen next is that all nine Rutherford engines on the bottom of Stage 1 will shut down as planned
01:50and just a couple of seconds or so before the second stage is released from its separation locks.
01:55Once we are clear of the first stage, the Rutherford engine on Stage 2 will ignite to propel Electron and IQPS onward to our target altitude for this mission.
02:05Let's keep an eye out now for the view across both stages as those events take place.
02:11Stage 1 proportion holding nominal stand by Formico in roughly 30 seconds.
02:1515 seconds to staging.
02:2515 seconds to staging.
02:29Intent burnout detect mode.
02:41Miko confirmed.
02:44Stage separation.
02:47Stage 2 ignition confirmed.
02:51A clean separation from the first stage as planned and a beautiful start up there by the Rutherford engine on the second stage.
03:02That second stage's velocity is now at more than 8,000 km an hour with an altitude of 95 km after that separation event.
03:11Next up will be fairing separation for Electron when the rocket's nose cone halves split and fall away to expose the Kushinada payload to space for the first time.
03:21Fairing jettison confirmed.
03:31And there you have it.
03:32Electron's two fairing hearts have jettisoned from Electron and on your screen you'll see the Harvest Goddess safely attached to the kick stage and ready to make her debut on orbit.
03:42Taking a look now at the propulsion monitoring camera at the bottom of stage 2 shows that Rutherford is continuing nominally since engine start up which happened just a few moments ago.
03:52We have another five minutes to go for the second stage engine performance.
03:55We have another five minutes to go for the second stage engine performance.
03:59We have another five minutes to go for the second stage engine burn until the next separation event.
04:24This Rutherford engine's performance can reach up to 5,800 pounds of force in the vacuum conditions of space with a specific impulse of 343 seconds.
04:35Now a specific impulse is a measure of performance in telling us how efficient an engine can be.
04:54One of the pretty special things about both our sea level and vacuum optimized Rutherford engines is that they're actually battery powered.
05:20The propellant pumps on these engines are driven by brushless DC motors powered by batteries.
05:26Now since the amount of time the second stage engine needs to run is longer than the capacity of the first battery packs, Electron needs to perform a power switch over to a fresh set of batteries to keep the engine running.
05:38The flight computer does this while the engine is still burning hot, that's why we call it the battery hot swap.
05:43In a few moments you should hear that call out from our launch operators and if you keep an eye out on your screen you should see those batteries eject in the next few moments.
05:52HVBET stretch holding nominal approaching hot swap in roughly 30 seconds.
06:15hVBET stretch along alright solidlysteps.
06:18hVBET stretch
06:21hVBET stretch
06:24hVBETemos
06:25hVBET
06:25hVBET
06:26hVBET
06:31hVBET
06:42hVBET
06:43hVbET
06:43hVbET
06:44hVBET
06:44Confirm hot swap successful.
06:48Nice and clean with that battery hot swap there and one of the final launch milestones
06:55completed on Electron for its 69th mission to space.
06:59We are cruising along now at 15,000 km an hour at 220 km in altitude.
07:06Just two more key events remain for this first stage of the mission, that is CECO or second
07:11engine cut off followed by stage separation where Electron's kick stage separates from
07:16the second stage and gets ready to deploy the payload into orbit.
07:30We're getting some stunning views of Earth from space from our onboard cameras.
07:34We touched on it a little bit at the start of the show but right now Electron is running
07:38fully autonomously.
07:40What that means is our extremely talented GNC engineers have completed all the analysis
07:44to determine how to get to this specific place in orbit.
07:48And right now Electron's flight computer is running its algorithm in real time to fine
07:52tune its performance and land Kushinara 1 on its final deployment orbit.
08:10Right, so we are approaching 8 minutes into flight and you can see on the right of your screen,
08:18Electron's second stage has around 13% of propellant remaining.
08:23Much like the first stage, there's no sense in carrying dead mass to orbit, so shortly we
08:28will separate the kick stage and payload from stage 2.
08:32We are soaring now past 22,000 km per hour at an altitude of 230 km above Earth.
08:40With less than a minute left on this engine burn, we're approaching Seiko.
08:43The engine on your screen there will power down and shut off just a moment before the
08:48kick stage is separated into a transfer orbit.
08:51Now it may sound simple, but this is a very precise manoeuvre and it's important that
08:55the kick stage is exactly where it needs to be for the next phase of the mission.
08:59Let's listen back in to Mission Control for that Seiko call and stage separation confirmation.
09:10Seiko confirmed.
09:13Nominal transfer orbit achieved.
09:14Stage separation confirmed.
09:20Step state confirmed.
09:33Wait a minute.
09:37Bye.
09:41Bye.
09:43Bye.
09:46Bye.
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