CZ-5 maiden flight; November 3rd

[YNM]

Weird... The real noise (not music) came back again !

 

With some shouts, so I'm not sure...

Guess they just don't want too many to watch it XD

 

EDIT : Commenters have said something about launch be done in 20:00 beijing time (12:00 UTC, 19:00 my local time). A few others 20:40 UTC+8 so probably one needs to sit this

EDIT 2 : Looks like 20:40 UTC+8

EDIT 3 : Moved to new LS : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0JA8m9KA4o, old goes off :

Edited November 3, 2016 by YNM

[lajoswinkler]

Links come and go. What the hell is this?

Smells like the government wants to appear transparent, yet with as little as possible live viewers, but then again, there will be recordings, so why bother?

[YNM]

It's China, after all

"All your goods is ours... Wait, no, it's yours still, please buy again !"

 

EDIT : Liftoff !

Booster burnout after ~ a minute, what ?

EDIT 2 : 2nd stage looks like DCSS !

Edited November 3, 2016 by YNM

[cubinator]

I have no idea what's going on with this thing...it's launched?

[YNM]

It is ! Now on orbit !

Edited November 3, 2016 by YNM

[rudi1291]

Looks like its in orbit now

[lajoswinkler]

Magnificent launch. Well done, China.

[cubinator]

Yay!

[liweih]

launch succeed, the rocket had accomplished its job. congratulations.

[Kryten]

It'd been assumed to have been scrubbed because they'd gone past the window in the airspace closure, they must've put out a last-minute extension.

[RedKraken]

Congrats China.

2016 proving to be a successful year.

TG2, Manned launch and rv, and a new HLV.

here is a launch replay ... watch out for the sound on this (its a bit loud, and cuts out a lot)

"According to an SASTIND official, there were 2 separate problems - the first one was with venting problems on one of the booster's LOX system, which they deemed not to be a problem; the second one was problems with chilling down the 1st stage engines - their temperature refused to drop for some time. " Galactic Penguin SST, Nasa forums

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=39415.0;attach=1386301;image

"My estimates of launch event times based only on the youtube video.  There could be delays between the ground and on-board cameras that skew these times from reality.

Stage 1 Ignition:  0 sec
Booster Ignition/Liftoff:  5 sec
Booster Shutdown:  179 sec
Booster Sep:  181 sec
PLF Sep:  292 sec
Stage 1 Shutdown:  483 sec
Stage 2 Start 1:  494 sec
Stage 2 Cutoff 1:  838 sec
Stage 2 Start 2:  1413 sec
Stage 2 Cutoff 2:  1766 sec
YZ-2/SJ-17 Sep:  1829 sec
YZ-2 Start:  ~1890
YZ-2 Cutoff:  ~2070 sec

First stage burn time is shorter than I expected, but this could be due to changes in the design from early predictions, etc.  I'm also surprised that YZ-2 performed a burn just after separation.  This must be a heavy test payload.  Otherwise, YZ-2 might be making up for a shortfall?  We'll find out in a few hours I suppose.

I think that 800+ tonnes GLOW makes this the world's heaviest active launch vehicle.

Corrections welcome!

 - Ed Kyle " nasa forums

Some of the reporting :

http://spaceflight101.com/long-march-5-inaugural-launch-success/

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/11/03/china-launches-long-march-5-one-of-the-worlds-most-powerful-rockets/

https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/5ax1m4/chinas_carrier_rocket_long_march5_takes_off_in/

[Josh IN SPACE]

Another fine launch! Couldn't stay up another hour after they prolonged it. Too late (or early?) for me. 

[Streetwind]

Jesus Christ in a camper van... I'm not sure if the launch team was threatened about failing to launch that day, or if they just had that much Go Fever, but that launch should definitely have been scrubbed. Like, at multiple different times for multiple different reasons. Deadlines passing, engines not chilling in, consoles not receiving telemetry, master alarm going off, the works. No wonder the webcast(s) were chaotic!

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39415.msg1606364#msg1606364

[ioresult]

Man, this rocket's design is so kerbal! I myself am guilty of putting tailfins on boosters!

[magnemoe]

2 hours ago, ioresult said:

Man, this rocket's design is so kerbal! I myself am guilty of putting tailfins on boosters!

Tailfins on boosters makes sense if you need tailfins and the boosters are large, this way you drop them high in the atmosphere with the boosters. 
In KSP they serve an extra function in increasing drag on the back and outside on booster helping it move out of way. 
Finns or orbital rockets are pretty rare but not unknown, looks like its mostly used on smal or long rockets,

[ioresult]

13 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Tailfins on boosters makes sense if you need tailfins and the boosters are large, this way you drop them high in the atmosphere with the boosters. 
In KSP they serve an extra function in increasing drag on the back and outside on booster helping it move out of way. 
Finns or orbital rockets are pretty rare but not unknown, looks like its mostly used on smal or long rockets,

Of course, when you don't need the boosters, you're high enough in the atmosphere that the fins become useless. Worse, they're dead weight.

Also, manual rocket gravity turn is not the most efficient way of controlling a rocket and I need all the aerodynamic help I can get, that's why I often put fins on boosters.

But I've never seen them IRL before LM5. Ariane 5, the Shuttle, the Atlas heavy, the Delta, even Energya. None of them has fins on boosters. That's why I get such a Kerbal vibe off LM5.

[Kryten]

They're pretty common in Chinese designs. The latest CZ-2C and -2D variants have small fins at the first stage base, CZ-3C has two larger fins on the first stage, and CZ-3B and -2F have fins on the boosters.

Edited November 4, 2016 by Kryten

[YNM]

16 hours ago, Streetwind said:

Jesus Christ in a camper van... I'm not sure if the launch team was threatened about failing to launch that day, or if they just had that much Go Fever, but that launch should definitely have been scrubbed. Like, at multiple different times for multiple different reasons. Deadlines passing, engines not chilling in, consoles not receiving telemetry, master alarm going off, the works. No wonder the webcast(s) were chaotic!

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39415.msg1606364#msg1606364

Unluckily I don't understand chinese XD

Actually sit-ed it out ! Didn't know it's that problematic... Thought it was something else about security !

[Gaarst]

"It's OK, CZ-5 is a cryogenic rocket, it's not filled with hundreds of tons of toxic hypergolic fuels. Less of a mess to clean when the rocket crashes onto a village, so we can be a bit more easygoing on security."

[YNM]

... National security I mean. Because they ditched the first LS and then make a new one. Threw people (probably foreigners) off for a while (more so with the scrub thought), but I looked over the channel and found the new LS (and seems like people are watching too).

I feel sory for chinese people there had to sit the launch on among the-only tv channel there (CCTV) - or in fact most TVs are showing it !

Edited November 5, 2016 by YNM

[Kryten]

A very interesting statement by the head of CASC;

CASC is essentially most of China's aerospace industry and space programme, their subsidiaries make all long march series rockets and most Chinese satellites.