[Note: I’ve moved this post to the top until 6 PM Eastern, so scroll down for potential new content]
Here’s a link for a live webcast of the SpaceX launch in less than two hours (via Tom Merkle).
[Update at 2:42 PM EST]
They’re picking up the pace on the launch sequence now. They have a pretty long checklist, it sounds like.
[Update at 3:16 PM EST]
Uh oh. They’re currently fourteen minutes into an unplanned hold (no explanation yet as to why). I wonder how much slack they have, or if this intrinsically delays the launch?
[Update at 3:26 PM EST]
A recovery boat has wandered into an area in the drop zone that’s off limits. They’re moving it and will be back into the count shortly. Good to hear that it’s not a technical problem.
[Update at 2:37 PM EST]
Aaaarrrgghhh.
Not a problem with the launch, but the cabinet people just arrived to unload them into the garage, so I may miss the launch while supervising them. Good luck, if so.
[Update at 4:08 PM EST]
Picking up the count, with a new scheduled launch of 5:30 PM EST
[Update about 4:30 PM EST]
I’ve moved this thread to the top until 6 PM, so if you see it, you can scroll down for newer material. Also, there’s a live discussion going on over at Free Republic.
[Update at 5 PM]
Starting to see what looks like LOX boiloff vapor from the top of the vehicle.
[Update at about T-10 minutes]
They just finished the poll. “Clear to launch.”
[Update a minute or so before]
I’m noticing a couple-minute delay on the webcast, so it may launch before we actually see it.
[A little after 5:30 EST]
It seems to have gotten off the pad, but my image is frozen on one of the on-board cameras. It seems to have dropped the webcast.
It looked like a good launch, as far as I could see, before we lost the feed, but that was only for a few seconds, and what looked like a couple hundred feet of altitude at most. I guess we’ll have to wait for word from SpaceX as to what happened during the remainder of the trajectory. I have to say that it’s a little unnerving to lose contact like that. I’m wondering if SpaceX cut it off because it was showing something untoward. Here’s hoping for the best, though.
[Update a couple minutes later]
The people at Free Republic who retained the stream longer than me reported blue sky and clouds, but also rolling before the webcast cut off. That could be part of the normal trajectory, but I can’t think of any reason for a symmetric vehicle to do a deliberate roll maneuver during ascent, so it remains unsettling.
[Update at 5:43 PM EST]
Vehicle lost, according to Gwynne Shotwell. Probably range safety destruct.
I’ll post more when I know more.
Schade.
Scheisse.
[Update shortly after 6 PM EST]
Word travels fast these days. The BBC already has the story.