Did a flight controller ever answer Flight with a no-go?

Question

OK, all flight controllers, I'm going around the horn

Retro? Go

FIDO? Go

Guidance? Go

Control? Go

TELCOM? Go

GNC? Go

EECOM? Go

Surgeon? Go

Are there any recorded instances of a No-Go?

Does it have to be Kranz? – Organic Marble Aug 22 '19 at 11:34 — Organic Marble, Aug 22 '19 at 11:34
@OrganicMarble Ha, good point! Have updated my question. – John Topley Aug 22 '19 at 12:20 — John Topley, Aug 22 '19 at 12:20

Organic Marble · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-22T16:12:46.857

78

One thing to note is that these polls of the room are largely for-the-record - in other words, if a flight controller was sitting on a problem that would prevent the accomplishment of a major milestone, and didn't tell Flight about it until the poll, that flight controller would not be in MCC for their next shift.

That said, and apologies because it's anecdotal, I've heard it at least once on the loops myself.

During the first attempt to launch STS-088, when Ascent/Entry Flight Director John Shannon polled for a go for launch, Weather (the controller position) was "no-go, forecast no-go" (meaning that current conditions were outside of flight rules, and were not forecast to improve by the launch time)¹. Despite this, Flight reported to the Launch Director at KSC that Houston was go for launch. The Weather guy couldn't believe what he was hearing and requested clarification from Flight on the loops, and was shot down.

That was a weird launch attempt for several reasons and I'm kinda glad it got scrubbed. The next day everyone was on their A game and it went off fine.

¹This wasn't news to Flight, it had been reported to him previously.

I don't think Weather being no-go for launch is particularly novel; this just happens to be one that I was there for.

edited Aug 22 '19 at 16:12

answered Aug 22 '19 at 13:02

Organic Marble

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I agree, in my experience listening to these polls if there is ever an issue they will say something along the lines of "Hold Hold Hold" and then the issue. For me, majority of the time it's weather. Even tho we call it a Go/No-Go, "No Go" is almost never said. – Seth Kurkowski Aug 22 '19 at 20:06
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Hearing Weather did not concur makes me wonder... What the hell happened with Challenger given Thiokol and NASA knew they were launching outside the vehicle's operating specs. Was someone missing from the room? Or were they present and made the wrong call? – jww Aug 23 '19 at 05:27
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@jww: Overriden from above. Its a pretty sad story. Challenger didn't have to explode. They should have listened to the engineers, 'cause the engineers told them the cold was a problem. The whole story is too long for a comment. – JRE Aug 23 '19 at 07:45
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I honestly want more on that story, why was the weather man ignored on his no-go? – Magic Octopus Urn Aug 23 '19 at 17:25
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@MagicOctopusUrn I would so love to have a transcript of the flight loop traffic for this launch attempt. Without that, it's just a story. – Organic Marble Aug 23 '19 at 17:29
I wonder if that would be a good follow-up, "have no-go call-outs ever been ignored?" I'd hope more for a non-anecdotal response though, and doubt I'd get one ;). Thanks for the first person perspective yet again. – Magic Octopus Urn Aug 23 '19 at 17:31
@MagicOctopusUrn yeah, probably best to have a question based on something more than Some Internet Guy, even if that Guy is me. – Organic Marble Aug 23 '19 at 17:31
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There are various users here which I consider far beyond "Some Internet Guy", you included hah. – Magic Octopus Urn Aug 23 '19 at 17:32
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@MagicOctopusUrn I was actually looking for some confirming info, and there was a thread on nasaspaceflight.com about this launch attempt which linked to a video! I was excited, but the link was dead. I posted a question about if there was any way to get the video back, and they deleted the whole thread!! Google "all-eventful STS-88 countdown" and you'll get a hit, but if you click on the link, it's gone. I also dug out my console log, but it doesn't have a lot of supporting detail, I just wrote "weather marginal". – Organic Marble Aug 23 '19 at 17:33
Here's one, but the source is cbsnews (gross) but, if you ctrl+F "no-go" it shows the unfavorable conditions, but doesn't mention the countdown. – Magic Octopus Urn Aug 23 '19 at 17:38
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Here's another story about Flight not listening to the controllers: https://blogs.nasa.gov/waynehalesblog/2009/01/07/post_1231342021582/ – Organic Marble Aug 23 '19 at 17:39
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@OrganicMarble - the Wayback Machine still has a snapshot of that thread – brhans Aug 24 '19 at 01:33
@brhans thanks! Sadly, the link for the video doesn't work there either :( – Organic Marble Aug 24 '19 at 01:53
@jww You want to buy this book: The Challenger Launch Decision:Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA (1996) – David Tonhofer Aug 25 '19 at 12:01

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 24 '19 at 05:43

The No GO happens all the time. Many recent ULA and Spacex Launches get a NO GO - Most of the time its the Weather and the Range Telemetry guys. High Altitude winds , Range tracking failures , data drops etc. If you watch Spaceflightnow or any of the launch scheduling websites you see launch halts in the last 4 or 30 minute hold all the time, then the launch usually goes fine after a day or two delay

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:54

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Apollo 11 had a conditional "Go" from flight during the "1202 alarm" discussions.

Armstrong: Give us a reading on the twelve-oh-two program alarm, Mission Control.

Flight: We’re go on that flight

Kranz: We’re go on that alarm?

Flight: If it doesn’t reoccur, we will be go

CAPCOM: Roger. We got – we’re go on that alarm

Aldrin: We got good data

As Mr Marble points out in the other answer, these round-the-horns are the final confirmation checks before major mission events and are the culmination of extended periods of discussions checks, and re-checks. Any No-Go decision would and should have been discussed and resolved before this final round of confirmation.

edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:54

Community

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answered Aug 23 '19 at 13:42

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This answer also highlights the point of a Go, No-Go poll: Getting clear statements from all teams as to whether or not anything they've been working on needs to put the launch on hold. A critical safety step to make sure everyone is perfectly clear as to what each team's status actually is. [Something may have just happened, or a previously 'known' issue may actually be far more serious than people outside of a given team understood it to be.] – TheLuckless Aug 23 '19 at 19:20
I can’t help but do not find the we will be go very clear, especially since it did reoccurred. It just was a situation with not enough time budget and thanks god they had a robust system. – eckes Aug 24 '19 at 22:50
@eckes Sometimes you have to roll the hard six – David Tonhofer Aug 25 '19 at 12:11

Did a flight controller ever answer Flight with a no-go?

3 Answers3