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"The Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft lifted off on time at 10:49 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spectacular nighttime launch followed a smooth countdown free of technical issues or weather concerns."
"The Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft lifted off on time at 10:49 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spectacular nighttime launch followed a smooth countdown free of technical issues or weather concerns."
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Re: Kepler is launched!
Sun, March 8, 2009 - 8:13 AMYea! I think they delayed it a bit so they could make sure that there were no problems like the one that caused the orbiting carbon observatory to crash last week. Rocket launches seem routine nowadays, but they are not. They are fraught with peril. Any time you take a couple thousand kilos of equipment with jillions of critical moving parts, toss it into space powered by what is basically a controlled explosion, it's a miracle that it arrives where it is supposed to be. Ever since the space shuttle, ordinary people think, oh, yeah, just another rocket, like it's an airliner taking off. It is not. -
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Re: Kepler is launched!
Sun, March 8, 2009 - 12:43 PMYeah, that's right.
In the end its still rocket science.
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