| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
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Democracy. | |
| It isn't just an idea. | ||
| It's a process. | ||
| A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. | ||
| It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. | ||
| Democracy in real time. | ||
| This is your government at work. | ||
| This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy unfiltered. | ||
| Next, the launch of NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts aboard a spacecraft on Expedition 73 to join the crew on board the International Space Station for scientific research. | ||
| Then, as tradition called for, the crew members left the Site-254 integration building, allowing Kud Sverchkov, the Soyuz commander, to report that he and his crewmates were ready to proceed to the launch pad. | ||
| You'll see in a moment the trio boarding their bus for the ride to Launch Site 31. | ||
| That occurred at about 11.45 p.m. Central Time last night, a trip that took a little less than an hour to complete across the sprawling launch complex. | ||
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The crew of the Soyuz MS-28 are ready for launch. | |
| Wishing you a good flight. | ||
| Ready for launch. | ||
| Good luck! | ||
| ...carrying the | ||
| Prime crew, departing the parking lot at the Site-254 integration building, headed for the launch pad. | ||
| And here is the last of our B-roll from Roscosmos this morning. | ||
| The crew climbing a few stairs, waving goodbye to well-wishers, entering that elevator for the ride to the top of the Soyuz rocket to board their spacecraft, which they've now been aboard for the past two hours. | ||
| And with the B-roll feed having been completed, we are now back of the Soyuz MS-28 at Site-31, Launch Pad 6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. | ||
| The countdown continuing to proceed on track. | ||
| Now at T minus 13 minutes, 27 seconds and counting. | ||
| At the time of launch, the International Space Station will be flying 260 miles over northwest Uzbekistan. | ||
| The station will be 280 miles behind Soyuz and will pass directly over the Baikonur Cosmodrome one minute after Soyuz lifts off, eventually leapfrogging past the Soyuz as Kud Sverchkov, Mikheyev, and Williams climb to their preliminary orbit. | ||
| Eight minutes and 46 seconds after launch, the third stage engine of the Soyuz booster will shut down and the Soyuz will separate from its launch vehicle in its preliminary orbit, deploying its solar rays and navigational antennas. | ||
| At that point, the three Soyuz crew members will trail the space station by 1,025 miles and the chase will begin, resulting in a docking to the Rosviet module on the Earth-facing side of the station's Russian segment at around 6:38 a.m. Central Time, | ||
| At the launch site on the steppe of Kazakhstan, NASA officials are on hand to watch the beginning of the journey for Chris Williams, Sergei Kudzverchkov and Sergei Mikheyev. | ||
| And with them is NASA Public Affairs Officer Chelsea Bayarte, who filed this report a short time ago. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thanks, Rob, and greetings for Baikonur. | |
| The bulk of the NASA delegation arrived early Saturday morning to get ready for today's launch. | ||
| We have Ken Bauersox here, NASA's Associate Administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate. | ||
| Norm Knight is here representing the Flight Operations Directorate. | ||
| And representatives from the International Space Station program are here as well. | ||
| The Williams family, who arrived on Friday, is here in full force wearing shirts to say Chris's crew. | ||
| The family won't be participating in any Thanksgiving traditions here in Baikonur as they focus on the launch, but they tell me that they usually have a large family gathering, and it typically includes eating plantains, a nod to their family's heritage from Panama. | ||
| We'll have to see what Thanksgiving celebrations await Williams when he gets to the space station. | ||
| Williams and his crew arrived in Baikonur on November 11th, and on the 12th they were presented with the final configuration of their capsule and conducted a pressure check on their launch and entry suits. | ||
| Soyuz launches are filled with traditions, and on November 20th, Chris Williams planted a tree in his name. | ||
| His commander, who has flown before, watered a tree that he had planted previously. | ||
| On the 26th, the crew participated in a news conference where they shared what their zero-G indicator would be. | ||
| The crew will actually have two. | ||
| The first one is a cat wearing a spacesuit that has ties to the commander's family, and the second is a little cosmonaut. | ||
| The crew acquired it while on a visit to a school about two years ago, and they promised the students that they would use it as their zero-G indicator and will give it back to the school at the end of their mission. | ||
| Everything is proceeding nominally here in Baikonur, and we are ready for launch. | ||
| Back to you, Rob. | ||
| Thank you, Chelsea. | ||
| We're approaching the T-10-minute mark in the countdown. | ||
| Everything continues to proceed on track. | ||
| We're just a few minutes away from the point in the countdown where the key will be inserted in the launch bunker to transition the countdown to automatic mode. | ||
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unidentified
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Five minutes out. | |
| This is one. | ||
| This is one. | ||
| All helmets are closed and the CASAS rescue aids are ready. | ||
| Copy, rescue raids are set up and ready. | ||
| And as you're hearing through the interpreter, Sergei Kud Sverchkov confirming that the crew has closed the visors to their helmets in the descent module, the center section of the Soyuz spacecraft as we approach the T-9-minute mark in the countdown. | ||
| Once again, the launch or the 10-second launch window is precisely timed for the moment when the Earth's rotation places the Cosmodrome in the plane or corridor of the orbit of the space station, which is inclined 51.6 degrees to either side of the equator. | ||
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The Soyuz 2.1A booster is a three-stage rocket. | |
| The first stage, which consists of first-stage engine and four strap-on solid rocket boosters, will operate for about a minute and 58 seconds until it shuts down, with those strap-ons being jettisoned in what is called the cross-a-chory, basically a cross-shaped pattern as they fall away from the rest of the Soyuz heading uphill. | ||
| We're at T-minus eight minutes and counting, one minute until the command for the key to start again. | ||
| That's rotating a special key, a launch engineer at the blockhouse in Baikonur, transitioning the countdown in its terminal phase to its automatic mode. | ||
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unidentified
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Pitcher, this is doing one minute redness. | |
| All controls are enabled on board, and I will be broadcasting all my actions. | ||
| Yes, this is 1. | ||
| We are ready. | ||
| As we pass the T-minus 7-minute mark in the countdown, Kudzverchkov reporting that he and his crewmates, Chris Williams and Sergei Mikheyev, are ready for launch. | ||
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engineers through the S on the descent module camera. | |
| T minus six minutes, 20 seconds and counting. | ||
| Everything is in good shape. | ||
| The launch control reporting that the range at Baikonur is clear, the Soyuz rocket is ready to begin its journey. | ||
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unidentified
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The Oclaps is ready. | |
| Go for launch sequence. | ||
| Go for launch sequence. | ||
| Launch key now has been inserted in the launch bunker, transitioning the launch sequence into its automatic mode. | ||
| In about 30 seconds, onboard systems will be transitioned to onboard control. | ||
| Again, in the descent module, the center section of the Soyuz MS-28 at the top of that rocket. | ||
| Sergei Kudzverchkov, the Soyuz commander, in the center seat, flanked to his left by Sergei Mikheyev, and to his right, NASA's Chris Williams. | ||
| Williams and Mikayev about to embark on their first journey into space. | ||
| This is the second flight into space for Kudzverchkov, a Baikonur native. | ||
| T-minus five minutes in counting. | ||
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unidentified
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go for nitrogen purging you have nitrogen purging 30 and 70. | |
| The fuel lines and other elements of the rocket engines are being purged with nitrogen right now that fireproofs them by removing vapors of fuel and oxidizer from the base of the launch pad. | ||
| T-minus four minutes and counting. | ||
| About a minute and 15 seconds from now, the booster's fuel tanks will be pressurized for flight. | ||
| The skies have cleared nicely over the Baikonur Cosmodrome. | ||
| Temperatures in the mid-40s Fahrenheit. | ||
| All quiet here in Mission Control in Houston. | ||
| The Orbit 1 team of flight controllers watching over the systems of the International Space Station in anticipation of the arrival of Williams, Kudzverchkov, and Mikhev a few hours from now. | ||
| T-minus three minutes in counting. | ||
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unidentified
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Gover vent valve cycling. | |
| Strip chart recorders in the launch control center are now activated to receive telemetry from the Soyuz booster. | ||
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unidentified
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Gov vent valve cycling. | |
| I copy the report. | ||
| T-24 seconds, two minutes and 24 seconds in counting. | ||
| The ground propellant feed in the process of being terminated to the rocket. | ||
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unidentified
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Copy, 70. Roll pressure rotation. 30, 70. | |
| Grand. | ||
| T-2 minutes in counting. | ||
| The booster tanks now pressurized for flight. | ||
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unidentified
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I copy the report. | |
| Next up, the Soyuz will be placed on internal power. | ||
| The two umbilicals you see at the bottom of your screen buttressed up against the Soyuz. | ||
| The first of those two will be retracted at about the T-33 second mark, followed at T-12 seconds by the second umbilical separating that will initiate the engine sequence start. | ||
| Coming up on T-minus one minute, Mark, T-minus one minute and counting. | ||
|
unidentified
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Ground power disconnect. | |
| The vehicle on internal power. | ||
| T-34 seconds and counting. | ||
| The first umbilical now retracting. | ||
|
unidentified
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First umbilical tower from booster. | |
| Ground propellant field termination. | ||
| Ground propellant feed terminated. | ||
| Copy all the reports. | ||
| Tower off. | ||
| The second umbilical now retracting. | ||
| Standing by for engine sequence start. | ||
| We have main engine ignition. | ||
| Preliminary intermediary. | ||
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unidentified
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Second umbilical tower. | |
| T-minus four seconds. | ||
| Three. | ||
| Two. | ||
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unidentified
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One flight speed engines and liftoff. | |
| Quality travel under way to the International Space Station. | ||
| All onboard systems are nominal. | ||
| Stage performance reported from the blockhouse in Baikonur. | ||
| 30 seconds into the flight, the Soyuz booster arcing out to the northeast from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. | ||
| Good roll pitching off program. | ||
| Good structural stability on the rocket. | ||
|
unidentified
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50 seconds. | |
| Engine chamber pressure is nominal on board. | ||
| Passing through the area of maximum dynamic pressure on the vehicle, max-q as it's called. | ||
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unidentified
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70 seconds. | |
| 70 seconds into the flight. | ||
| first-stage engine performance report. | ||
| The view inside the descent module showing Kudz-Sverchkov at the bottom. | ||
| To his left, Sergei Mikheyev. | ||
| All engine parameters reported to be functioning normally. | ||
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unidentified
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The vehicle is nominal, everything's fine on board as well. | |
| And we confirm parameters. | ||
| And we have confirmation of first stage separation. | ||
| The strap-on boosters falling away nominally. | ||
| Two minutes and change since the launch of the Soyuz booster. | ||
| The Soyuz now operating on the power of its second stage engine. | ||
| All structural parameters reported to be normal on the Soyuz. | ||
| Coming up on the three-minute mark, the launch shroud encapsulating the Soyuz booster. | ||
| The Soyuz spacecraft is now in jettison. | ||
| Three minutes into the flight, this view from the camera on the upper stage of the Soyuz 2.1A booster. | ||
|
unidentified
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We confirm everything is on board. | |
| One hundred and ninety seconds into the flight, the reports are continuing to come in and all is green from the blockhouse in Baikonur. | ||
|
unidentified
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The engine of the second stage is normal. | |
| 200 seconds working nominally. | ||
| Second stage thrusters reported to be operating normally. | ||
| Good structural stability. | ||
|
unidentified
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220 seconds nominal flights. | |
| Coming up on the four-minute mark end of the flight. | ||
|
unidentified
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Coffee, everything's fine on board. | |
| We are feeling great. | ||
| Kud Sverchkov reports he and his crewmates are in good shape, feeling great. | ||
| The second stage shutdown scheduled at the four-minute, 37-second mark into the flight. | ||
|
unidentified
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T plus 50, your pitch and roll are all nominal. | |
| And we, on our side, everything's fine on board. | ||
| We're feeling good. | ||
| T plus 270 seconds. | ||
| The vehicle is nominal. | ||
| Everything's fine on board. | ||
| We're feeling good. | ||
| And we have a second stage shutdown. | ||
|
unidentified
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Second stage separation confirmed. | |
| Copy. | ||
| Second stage separation is confirmed. | ||
| Lower skirt has been separated. | ||
| The third stage engine now propelling the Soyuz to its preliminary orbit, providing 67,000 pounds of thrust. | ||
| This burn will continue until about the 8-minute 46-second mark when it will shut down and the Soyuz will be placed into its preliminary orbit. | ||
|
unidentified
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The vehicle is nominal. | |
| Copy. | ||
| Everything's fine on board. | ||
| Coming up on the six-minute mark into the flight. | ||
| About two minutes and 46 seconds of powered flight remaining. | ||
|
unidentified
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Everything's fine on board. | |
| We're feeling good. | ||
| Good reports on the performance of the third stage engine. | ||
|
unidentified
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30 seconds. | |
| Engines working nominally. | ||
| Six and a half minutes into the flight. | ||
| A little over two minutes of powered flight remaining. | ||
| Liftoff time was confirmed at 3.27 and 57 seconds a.m. Central Time, 2.27 and 57 seconds p.m. at the launch site in Baikonur. | ||
| Passing 7 minutes into the flight, about 1 minute 46 seconds of powered flight remaining. | ||
|
unidentified
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420 seconds. | |
| Your pitch and roll are all nominal. | ||
| Copy, we're feeling good. | ||
| Plus 4.50 seconds, nominal flight. | ||
| Copy. | ||
| The crew is feeling fine. | ||
| We're approaching the eight-minute mark into the flight, less than a minute of powered flight remaining. | ||
|
unidentified
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T plus 480, the vehicle is stable. | |
| copy and everything is okay and bored and we're feeling good t plus 500 seconds nominal flight The third stage engine beginning to throttle down in preparation for its shutdown and separation. | ||
|
unidentified
|
5, 10 seconds. 50 plus 5, 20. | |
| Thursday. | ||
| Get ready for third stage separation. | ||
| And we have third stage shutdown and separation. | ||
| A nominal ride uphill for Williams, Kudsverchkov, and Mikheyev. | ||
| We'll be watching momentarily for the deployment of the solar arrays and the navigational antennas on the MS-28. | ||
| And there they go. | ||
| And we now have confirmation that the arrays and navigational antennas have all been deployed normally. | ||
| A perfect ride uphill for the soon-to-be newest trio of residents of the International Space Station. | ||
|
unidentified
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We confirm a third stage separation was nominal. | |
| Great. | ||
| Now close RPV 1 and 2. | ||
| So that's going to be parameter 21. | ||
| Copy, RPV 1 is closed, unintelligible. | ||
| Repress. | ||
| A perfect ride uphill for the three crew members aboard the Soyuz MS-28 in work and close the launch insertion display. | ||
| 37 minutes pressure in betway is 824 Next pressure is 884. | ||
| The crew on board Soyuz MS-28, led by the commander, Sergei Kudsverchkov, the Soyuz commander in the process of receiving parameters from the Russian mission controllers in Karolyov outside of Moscow, who are now in control of the flight of Soyuz to the station, following a flawless launch and ascent to its preliminary orbit. | ||
|
unidentified
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Dynamic mode is enabled at 12.10. | |
| And we see that you turned on the video. | ||
| We are receiving the video signal from you. | ||
| And there is a view of the control panel inside the Soyuz spacecraft with a variety of different technical parameters that are being monitored by the launch control team in Baikonur as well as the flight controllers in Koryov at the Russian Mission Control Center outside of Moscow. | ||
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Went through and we are turning off repress. | |
| And we're standing by for Form 03. | ||
| The next burn in the sequence of rendezvous maneuvers is scheduled just after 4 a.m. Central Time. | ||
| This is our first view from an external television camera on the Soyuz. | ||
| This will come into play more prominently when we get back into our next broadcast for rendezvous and docking to the Ross Viet module of the International Space Station. | ||
| Coming up just after 4 a.m. will be what is called the DV1 burn, the Delta Velocity 1 burn, that will increase the speed of the Soyuz by about 22 meters per second, fine-tuning its path on route to a fast-track rendezvous with the space station later this morning. | ||
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unidentified
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23rd. | |
| 326. | ||
| 24. | ||
| 17.7. | ||
| 25th. | ||
| 17.2. | ||
| 26. | ||
| 272. | ||
| And PROP is 878. | ||
| We got the old Pretchit 2. | ||
| And the Soyuz crew is testing now one of the redundant sets of the Corps' automated rendezvous system that will guide the Soyuz into an automated docking to the Rosviat module. | ||
| In the unlikely event, anything would happen that would inhibit the Corps' system from operating normally, could Sverchkov take over manual control of the flying of the Soyuz for its docking. | ||
| But the Corps system is up and running and currently being tested, and everything appears to be in good shape. | ||
| Back here in Mission Control in Houston, the Orbit 1 team of flight controllers has had its morning daily planning conference with the Expedition 73 crew aboard the station who watched the launch of Soyuz MS-28 on a video uplink to the station itself. |