Despite the rainstorm & cloudy weather in Cape Canaveral the launch was successful on this instantaneous launch window.
This was the inaugural launch from PAD 39 A, for Falcon9 & Dragon, this pad was previously used by Nasa for Apollo missions.
It was the 10th resupply service mission to the ISS- International Space Station by SpaceX.
Yesterday 02/18/2017, the mission was aborted at the 13 second mark, the cause was the second stage TVC actuators “out of family” data. TVC stands for Thrust Vector Control and was very well explained by Bill Carton on SpaceX facebook group.
The actuators gimbal the single engine of the 2nd stage, which gives pitch and yaw controls.
This morning Spacex employees did some testing, mainly wiggle tests, both primary and backup actuators performed as expected.
Here is what Bill had to say about TVC issue.
Thrust Vector Controls - the hydraulic actuators with electrical control system that AIM the engine.
When they say the data is "out of family" that means that SpaceX has saved all the data from all tests and previous launches of the Falcon 9, and they have an average of the behavior (as measured by sensors in the actuators) when they command movement of the engine. Any behavior that's sluggish, sticky, or otherwise not like the other data is called "out of family" and they need to review the data. A previous launch (looking up which one is left as an exercise for the student.) was delayed for the need to change out one of these before. Expect some internal calls for more corrective action, because SpaceX tends to never repeat an issue that's cost them time and $$ in the past.”
At T+ 10m:23s Dragon successfully ejects from the 2nd Stage and was inserted on a perfect orbit A couple of minutes later the solar panels deploy normally.
For the first time in broad daylight the Falcon 9 First Stage lands on LZ-1 in the Cape! It was the 8th overall successful landing of a 1st stage!
You can re-watch CRS-10 Mission here
Get Space Model Kits & Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3DModelShop-1132904803426126/?ref=page_internal
More on Space Swag on Shapeways : https://www.shapeways.com/shops/Pedr0C0rnerSh0P?section=Space&s=0
