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Atlas/TDRS K launch timeline
BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: January 15, 2013
| T-0:00:02.7 |
Engine Start |
| The Russian-designed RD-180 main engine is ignited and undergoes checkout prior to launch. |
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| T+0:00:01.1 |
Liftoff |
| The Atlas 5 vehicle, designated AV-036, lifts off and begins a vertical rise away from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. |
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| T+0:01:31 |
MaxQ |
| The rocket passes through the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure as it accelerates through the lower atmosphere. |
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| T+0:04:02 |
Main Engine Cutoff |
| The RD-180 main engine completes its firing after consuming its kerosene and liquid oxygen fuel supply in the Atlas first stage. |
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| T+0:04:08 |
Stage Separation |
| The Common Core Booster first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket separates from the Centaur upper stage. Over the next few seconds, the Centaur engine liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen systems are readied for ignition. |
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| T+0:04:18 |
Centaur Ignition 1 |
| The Centaur RL10 engine ignites for the longer of the two upper stage firings. This burn will inject the Centaur stage and TDRS spacecraft into a parking orbit. |
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| T+0:04:26 |
Nose Cone Jettison |
| The payload fairing that protected the TDRS K spacecraft during the climb through the atmosphere is no longer needed and is separated. |
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| T+0:18:14 |
Centaur Cutoff 1 |
| The Centaur engine shuts down after arriving in a planned parking orbit. The vehicle enters a lengthy coast period lasting nearly 80 minutes before arriving at the required location in space for the second burn. |
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| T+1:40:17 |
Centaur Ignition 2 |
| The Centaur re-ignites to propel the payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit from the parking achieved earlier in the launch sequence. |
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| T+1:41:16 |
Centaur Cutoff 2 |
| At the conclusion of its second firing, the Centaur will have delivered the TDRS spacecraft into the targeted orbit with an apogee of 22,238 statute miles, perigee of 2,680 statute miles and inclination of 25.9 degrees. |
| T+1:46:02 |
Spacecraft Separation |
| NASA's first spacecraft in its third-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System is released into orbit from the Centaur upper stage to complete the AV-036 launch. |
Data source: United Launch Alliance.
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