| T-00:00:00 |
Launch |
| Producing 1.6 million pounds of thrust, the Zenit 2FG rocket soars into the sky at 2016 GMT (3:16 p.m. EST) Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. |
|
| T+00:02:29 |
First Stage Separation |
| The Zenit rocket's RD-171 engine shuts down and the first stage separates in the upper atmosphere. The second stage's RD-120 engine ignites to continue thrusting toward orbit. The Zenit's payload fairing will be jettisoned during the second stage burn. |
|
| T+00:08:30 |
Second Stage Shutdown |
| The Zenit's second stage engine shuts down as the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft and its main propulsion unit enter an elliptical low Earth orbit. |
|
| T+00:11:24 |
Spacecraft Separation |
| The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft and its main propulsion unit separate from the Zenit rocket's second stage in orbit. |
|
| T+02:39:45 |
MDU First Ignition |
| The spacecraft's main propulsion unit, or MDU, ignites at 2255 GMT (5:55 p.m. EST) for a burn lasting nine-and-a-half minutes to raise the apogee, or high point, of its orbit to an altitude of more than 2,500 miles. |
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| T+02:48:15 |
MDU First Shutdown |
| The hydrazine-fueled MDU shuts down at 2305 GMT (6:05 p.m. EST) after reaching a higher orbit. |
|
| T+02:50:14 |
Jettison Tanks |
| Auxiliary propellant tanks are jettisoned from the Phobos-Grunt propulsion unit. |
|
| T+04:46:45 |
MDU Second Ignition |
| After coasting through space for two hours, Phobos-Grunt's MDU ignites again at 0102 GMT Wednesday (8:02 p.m. EST Tuesday) to accelerate the spacecraft on an escape trajectory toward Mars. |
|
| T+05:04:07 |
MDU Second Shutdown |
| Phobos-Grunt reaches an interplanetary trajectory at 0120 GMT Wednesday (8:20 p.m. EST Tuesday) following the second burn of the main propulsion unit. The probe will reach orbit at Mars in October 2012. |
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