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.
04:57Many of the poles have improved during the current transmission of the battery pack.
04:58They can find out the same way out of the battery pack as a service as a service provider.
05:06They can click the line.
05:07There was a very little bituse of the battery pack to the battery pack off.
05:09There is a little bituse of the battery pack on the battery pack, but then it won't charge.
05:13The battery pack has a little bituse of the battery pack.
05:16It's not connected for a supply pack, but the battery pack that's still very long.
05:20So let's bring up the battery pack with another battery pack.
05:26T plus 5 minutes 16 seconds now and those tank levels are looking good as electrons continuing
05:36well past 173 kilometers above earth at a speed of look at that almost 12 000 kilometers an hour
05:43so battery hot swap will be coming up shortly let's listen in for that one
05:50guidance is nominal 200 seconds remaining
05:56HVB discharge holding nominal hot swap in 30 seconds
06:26throttle down
06:28throttle down
06:30battery jettison confirmed
06:36hot swap successful
06:40battery jettison confirmed hot swap successful
06:54and there they go that means hot swap was successful and electrons second stage engine now is running on
07:02those new batteries and the speed of the second stage continues to climb we're past 16 000 kilometers
07:08an hour now and more than 190 kilometers above earth
07:12now we have another two minutes or so to go until our next events on the second stage
07:18which will be seco and stage separation from the kick stage that carries the mission's payload
07:24so a couple more minutes of engine burn time to go though and all systems are performing nominally with electron
07:30continuing smoothly onto orbit
07:42all right t plus seven minutes 35 seconds and counting into flight everything is proceeding nominally for this mission
07:52and look if you've just joined us we had a great start to the launch having successfully cleared the pad at launch complex one to make our way through max q main engine cut off and stage separation to reach this point now in the mission
08:08so operators in mission control continue to monitor vehicle systems closely as we approach seco about a minute to go until then otherwise electron is approaching nearly 22 000
08:2222 000 kilometers an hour and we're getting close to that orbital insertion speed we need of about 28 000 kilometers an hour
08:28so as i said very soon we are going to see the vacuum variant of the rutherford engine power down and shut off completely
08:36completely for our seco maneuver or the second engine cut off on the second stage let's listen in for that call out that we have cleared seco and achieved kick stage separation
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