A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched the "Follow My Speed" mission from New Zealand. The payload was a "single satellite for a confidential commercial customer," according to a statement by Rocket Lab.
00:30There goes our 76th launch with a nice clean liftoff from Launch Complex 1 for Follow
00:54My Speed.
00:55And we can see a beautiful bright glow there from the nine Rutherford engines as we make
00:59our way to space with Electron.
01:02And we are just above 5.5 kilometers in altitude and quickly climbing past 1,000 kilometers
01:07an hour.
01:08So that means soon our Stage 1 engines will throttle down just a touch for Max Q or Maximum
01:14Aerodynamic Pressure.
01:16Approaching Max Q.
01:20Cleared Max Q.
01:30HVB discharge nominal.
01:32And that was the call out for Max Q.
01:36So Electron is performing nominally during this first stage burn as the atmosphere thins and
01:41we continue to climb.
01:43The rocket's velocity is now approaching 2,700, sorry, 2,800 kilometers an hour now.
01:50And we're coming up on several milestones in quick succession that will carry us through
01:54to the next phase of flight.
01:55So the first event is MECO or Main Engine Cut-off, quickly followed by Stage Separation and then
02:02Engine Ignition on Electron's second stage.
02:06Now in order for Electron to carry out that separation cleanly, it has to throttle down
02:10its nine Rutherford engines that are powering the first stage and that is MECO.
02:14Very soon after that, separation takes place and the Rutherford engine on Stage 2 lights up
02:19to propel the second stage onward to orbit and continue the mission.
02:23So let's listen in for these call outs from Mission Control that these maneuvers have been
02:27completed.
02:3215 seconds to staging.
02:40I love that sound of separation in that engine startup, that means that's a clean pass through
03:08MECO stage separation and second stage engine startup and the mission is continuing nice
03:14and nominal for Follow My Speed.
03:16So soon we'll have fairing separation on the second stage when the fairing halves will jettison
03:21and fall away now that they're no longer needed to protect the payload.
03:25Now at our customer's request, we won't be showing that separation, but you might catch a glimpse
03:30of those fairing halves from the camera you see on your screen as they fall away.
03:34Otherwise, let's listen in for the call out.
03:41Fairing jettison confirmed.
03:46There we go.
03:47We heard the call.
03:48Fairing separation confirmed by Mission Control.
03:49Now at T plus 3 minutes 47 seconds into flight for Follow My Speed as Electron cruises past 8,000 km an hour.
04:08Now the next call outs we can expect to hear from Mission Control will be HP battery discharge nominal
04:14and approaching hot swap in roughly 30 seconds.
04:17Now those relate to the next actions for our battery packs that are connected to the second stage Rutherford engine.
04:23Hot swap refers to the action that switches in a battery pack with full power before the batteries that are currently in use are completely drained.
04:31Now once that hot swap occurs, the old packs are separated from the rocket and they fall away.
04:36And again, sometimes you can see them glint on camera as they go out of the frame of the camera view.
04:41But otherwise we listen out for confirmation from Mission Control that battery hot swap has occurred.
04:46So let's bring up those audio channels again now.
04:53Stage two propulsion holding nominal.
04:57Prot��ator speed still can be attached to the second side of episode zero togard.
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