Separation
“Second stage engine cut-off.”
“Separation complete.”
The room filled with cheers while Michael Bruey continued to stare at his console in the UNIRO Launch Control Center at Base Tranquility.
“Andrew, how’s our insertion looking?” Bruey asked, his voice clearly heard over the voice loops despite the din persisting around them.
“Standby one.” Andrew Stiles sat one console over from Bruey, his focus also unfazed despite the raucous. “And… I’m seeing nominal insertion. Phoenix 3 is in orbit.”
“Copy, nominal insertion.” Bruey let out a quick cheer, “Let’s GO!” He looked over to a grinning Andrew who glanced up and offered a high-five. “Alright, let’s get to it; not there yet.” Definitely not there yet. “Buy off your last steps and let’s move into Section 2.2 for ISS Rendezvous.”
“Wilco,” Andrew replied. “Section 2.2. I’m with you.”
The cheering gradually died out and the crowd outside the control room began to dwindle. The launch vehicle engineers began wrapping up their open work and closing down their consoles, ready to go celebrate the first UNIRO crewed spaceflight. Phoenix 3 Operators Bruey and Andrew remained on-console as the room emptied. Fourteen hours until docking with ISS, delivering supplies and two UNIRO crewmembers to join the team already on station.
“Phoenix Crew, Ground; how copy on insertion call-out?” Bruey asked, following his next procedure for confirming crew communication post-insertion.
“Ground, this is Phoenix Crew. We copy nominal insertion and we’re seeing the same here. That pusher on separation is a heck of a kick.”
Bruey chuckled, “Copy all, Phoenix Crew. Just trying to get you up there as fast as we can.”
A yellow light on the console flashed to life. Andrew was quick to respond, “Comm Caution. Acknowledging.”
Bruey gave a couple moments before asking, “What’s the word on that caution?”
“Looks like we crossed our caution threshold for a few flight computer cycles on antenna bravo’s signal-to-noise ratio,” Andrew replied. “Back within range now, so not a high concern. Likely due to separation event, but I’ll send it out to a communications specialist.”
“Copy. I’ll go ahead and clear it from the board,” Bruey leaned over towards Andrew. “Hey, I’ll send a note to the software team to see about increasing that threshold for the post-separation state on future missions. No sense in tripping an alarm if we expect that kind of signature every time.”
“I agree; definitely worth a discussion offline,” Andrew added. “Should probably let the crew in on that too.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” Bruey turned back to his console. “Phoenix Crew, Ground. Just wanted to let you know we looked at that Comm alarm and it’s of low concern; likely due to separation event.”
“Copy, Ground. Surprised there was only the one alarm. That separation really was a kick in the pants. We’re still getting good comm up here.”
“Copy, Phoenix Crew.” Bruey replied. “You can expect a smaller kick in about 25 minutes when we perform our first rendezvous burn.” He made a mental note to look up the acceleration profile on the second stage separation mechanism. It must be something.