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Atlas/Intelsat 14 launch timeline
SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: November 9, 2009
| T-00:02.7 |
Engine Start |
| The Russian-designed RD-180 main engine is ignited and undergoes checkout prior to launch. |
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| T+00:01.1 |
Liftoff |
| The three strap-on solid rocket boosters are lit as the Atlas 5 vehicle, designated AV-024, lifts off and begins a vertical rise away from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. |
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| T+02:09 |
Jettison SRBs |
| Having burned out of propellant approximately 40 seconds earlier, the spent solid rocket boosters are jettisoned to fall into the Atlantic Ocean. |
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| T+04:27 |
Main Engine Cutoff |
| The RD-180 main engine completes its firing after consuming its kerosene and liquid oxygen fuel supply in the Atlas first stage. |
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| T+04:33 |
Stage Separation |
| The Common Core Booster first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket separates from the Centaur upper stage. Over the next few seconds, the Centaur engine liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen systems are readied for ignition. |
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| T+04:43 |
Centaur Ignition 1 |
| The Centaur RL10 engine ignites for the longer of the two upper stage firings. This burn will inject the Centaur stage and Intelsat 14 spacecraft into a parking orbit. |
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| T+04:51 |
Nose Cone Jettison |
| The payload fairing that protected the Intelsat 14 spacecraft during launch is separated once heating levels drop to predetermined limits. |
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| T+18:24 |
Centaur Cutoff 1 |
| The Centaur engine shuts down after arriving in a planned parking orbit. The vehicle enters a lengthy coast period lasting nearly 95 minutes before arriving at the required location in space for the second burn. |
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| T+1:53:24 |
Centaur Ignition 2 |
| The Centaur re-ignites over the southeastern Indian Ocean to accelerate the payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit from the parking achieved earlier in the launch sequence. |
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| T+1:54:57 |
Centaur Cutoff 2 |
| At the conclusion of its second firing, the Centaur will have delivered the Intelsat 14 spacecraft into the targeted orbit. |
| T+1:58:03 |
Spacecraft Separation |
| The Intelsat 14 commercial communications satellite is released into orbit from the Centaur upper stage to complete the AV-024 launch. |

Data source: United Launch Alliance.
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