Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rice!titan!phil
From: phil@titan.rice.edu (William LeFebvre)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Shuttle *Launch*
Message-ID: <1971@kalliope.rice.edu>
Date: 6 Oct 88 15:18:06 GMT
References: <1055@orion.cf.uci.edu> <1113@cfa237.cfa250.harvard.edu>
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Reply-To: phil@Rice.edu (William LeFebvre)
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Organization: Rice University, Houston
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In article <1113@cfa237.cfa250.harvard.edu> mcdowell@cfa250.harvard.edu (Jonathan McDowell) writes:
>From article <1055@orion.cf.uci.edu>, by dkrause@orion.cf.uci.edu (Doug Krause):
>However on a mission like
>STS26, at MECO (SSME Main Engine Cutoff) when the External Tank
>separates, T+8.5 min,...
Just to clarify (some people know this, some don't) MECO is at 8:38 and
ETsep is at 8:50.  They're distinct events separated by about 10 seconds.
>...I start breathing again at MECO and
>ET sep. (OK, I know, I'm pretty blue in the face by then!)

I start breathing again at SRB-sep (when the solids shut down and go
away).  Once they get to that point, they have options should something go
wrong.  Between T0 and SRB-sep (T+2:04) they're sitting ducks.  If
anything goes wrong they're stuck until the SRBs are done burning.  There
are still things that could cause serious if not catastrophic problems
between SRB-sep and MECO, but I feel alot better during that time than
during the first 2 minutes.  I start breathing again...I just don't blink.

Apparently there was a (brief) round of applause in mission control just
after SRB-sep happened (or was it launch control??....dang, my memory's
already going).

			William LeFebvre
			Department of Computer Science
			Rice University
			<phil@Rice.edu>