L-1 Bis Launcher on ELA-3

The Ariane 5 Launcher for the VA-224 mission spent its first night on the ELA-3 Launch pad.

 

Credits: CNES/AE

Due to the French national day on 14th of July, there were not enough resources at work in French Guyana required for a Launch. This means that the Ariane 5 launcher had to stay during this Bastille day on the ELA-3 launch pad. During these additional 24 hours, ThalesAleniaSpace performed few routine activities on MSG-4 (e.g. battery charging…). On the launcher side, the ventilation under the fairing will be continued in order to keep the critical items (tanks and batteries) under their required limits. This is necessary as the temperature under the sun during the day can be close to 40 deg. C. So far all monitoring measurements are well within the specifications required for the launch. It is noteworthy to mention that the weather this morning in Kourou was overcasted and rainy. The picture below gives a nice day view of the launcher on its launch pad.

Credits: CNES/AE

From the S1B, the wall monitors give now live views of the launcher on its pad and also close up on  the Vulcain engine.

 

Vulcain Enine of the Ariane 5 Launcher

If everything goes well, tomorrow (15/07), 10 seconds before 18:42 (Kourou time, i.e 23:42 Western Europe time), Damien should pronounce from Jupiter 2 these well known and formal words:

-A tous de DDO,  Attention pour le décompte final, 10, ...

Follow with us the final chronology, tomorrow 15/07 starting from 07:30 am (Kourou time).