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I just learned that the Russians don't use a countdown when launching a rocket. I saw that in a YouTube video and found a Reddit discussion that confirms it. That makes me wonder who does and who doesn't use it. Is it just an American thing? Do all the Americans, like SpaceX, ULA, and Rocket Lab use it?

uhoh
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Greg
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    Is your question specifically as it pertains to something used for a public affairs type audio commentary? – Tristan Feb 12 '21 at 23:54
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    I hope some of the Russian members weigh in. Several trustworthy websites refer to Proton countdown, Soyuz countdown, etc. so I wonder if the premise is correct. – Organic Marble Feb 12 '21 at 23:57
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    I added the russia and soviet-union tags so that anyone following those tags will get pinged. – uhoh Feb 13 '21 at 01:24
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    The French do., but turn up the volume for this video. – Fred Feb 13 '21 at 01:48
  • What I noticed during the recent Zol-Janah launch is that they counted up from 1 to 10 instead of counting down to 1. So that's something different around Iran. – OrangeDurito Feb 13 '21 at 16:44
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    What, exactly, do you mean by a "countdown"? If it's the Russian equivalent of how NASA has a public display of the time until liftoff and a Public Affairs Officer who voices the time remaining until liftoff, then no, Russian doesn't do that. But if it's the Russian equivalent of a combination of ground-based and onboard clocks that count toward some critical time-tagged event (e.g., ignition or liftoff), then yes, Russia does exactly that. Russia likes to use near instantaneous (one second) launch windows. Having clocks ticking toward that time is critical. To me, that's a countdown. – David Hammen Feb 13 '21 at 19:04
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    By countdown, I had meant the familiar "5... 4... 3..." But the comments have me questioning now what a countdown actually means. I suppose quietly checking off a timed sequence of tasks could count. And the American countdown has built-in holds, so it's not like it relates in a simple way to time-until-launch. Dang it, it seemed like such a simple question! Announcing a descending sequence of numbers over a PA, that's what I'm going to mean by a countdown. – Greg Feb 13 '21 at 19:48
  • FYI: You need a countdown if it matters when you launch. Are there astronauts on board? How long can you leave them sitting if you discover a problem after they have been strapped in to their seats? Are you using cryogenic fuels? How long can you delay after loading it before too much boils off? Are you planning to rendezvous with a spacecraft already in orbit? Your "launch window" might be only a couple of minutes!! If nothing like that applies--if nothing on your pre-flight checklist is time sensitive, then you don't need the count down, you only need the list. – Solomon Slow Feb 14 '21 at 20:42

2 Answers2

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In addition to the Americans, the French, Japanese, Chinese, Indians and Iranians do, but so do the Russians sometimes.

Fred
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  • There is no 10-0 countdown in Soviet launches – A. Rumlin Feb 13 '21 at 10:46
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    nonsense. there is always a countdown, what they might lack is some announcer blarting it out on a speaker. Which is, really, only for the audience. – CuteKItty_pleaseStopBArking Feb 13 '21 at 14:02
  • @PcMan: Can you prove that? It appears that Soviet launches and most Russian launches, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, may be different. – Fred Feb 13 '21 at 15:20
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    @fred prove that time runs linearly for Russians as it does for Americans??? A rocket launch is a precision series of events, that need to happen in the correct sequence and at the correct time. of course there is an actual countdown. But not the cute lady voice announcing it on speakers to the nonexistent audience. – CuteKItty_pleaseStopBArking Feb 13 '21 at 15:33
  • @PcMan: A launch schedule and sequence is not a count down, it's a process for an ordered sequence of events. – Fred Feb 13 '21 at 16:25
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    @Fred It's a process for an ordered time-tagged sequence of events that culminate in liftoff. While it might not be public facing, it is still a countdown. – David Hammen Feb 13 '21 at 19:08
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You can find this answer to the question What's the first recorded use of a countdown associated with a rocket launch?

"According to Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel by Willy Ley, the Fritz Lang movie Girl in the Moon (1926) featured a fictional rocket launch countdown for dramatic purposes and it was adopted by the experimenters in the German Rocket society for thier launches. Werner Von Braun and others became engineers in the German military rocket program and then in the US military and civilian rocket programs and kept on using countdowns."

Continues this theme with a question about American launches - What is the purpose of having a countdown during a rocket launch?

Soviet launches do not have a countdown, although at the initial stage, a thorough study of German missile technology was carried out. The missiles were subordinate to the artillery of the Soviet Army and the launches were made by personnel in the same way as firing from cannons. Subsequently, outdated commands were preserved as a tradition.

"Циклограмма пуска": Сброс ШО / Discharge SHO - the tear-off plug is detached from the fairing of the spacecraft, after which the refueling and drainage mast is retracted from it.

Минутная готовность / One minute readiness - one minute before the "Key to start" command.

Ключ на старт / Key to start - by turning a special key, the launch preparation is switched to automatic mode.

Протяжка-1 / Broach-1 (stretch out) - a strip of paper is pulled out, on which the recording of information about the rocket begins at the ground point of preparation for launch.

Продувка / Purging - fuel lines and other elements of the rocket engine are purged with nitrogen to fire-fighting them free of fuel and oxidizer vapors.

Протяжка-2 / Broach-2 (stretch out) - a strip of paper is stretched, on which the recording of information about the launch complex begins at the ground point of preparation for launch.

Ключ на дренаж / Key to drain position - the closing of the drain valves, through which the evaporating liquid oxygen was removed from the rocket into the atmosphere, which was visually manifested in white clouds enveloping the rocket. The drainage went simultaneously with the replacement of the evaporated oxygen in the tanks with the oxidizer, which also stops at this command.

Земля-борт / Ground-to-board - the mast cable departs from the rocket, the rocket is ready to switch to its own power supply.

Пуск / Start - the supply of fuel components to the propulsion system begins.

Зажигание / Ignition - ignition of fuel in combustion chambers.

Предварительная, промежуточная, главная, подъем / Preliminary, intermediate, main, lifting - stages of a set of thrust of the propulsion system.

Есть контакт подъема / There is a lift contact - a sensor has triggered, detecting the separation of the rocket from the launch pad.

A. Rumlin
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  • Your info is interesting but does nothing to "prove" that Soviet/Russian launches do not have a time-sensitive checklist prior to ignition and launch. – Carl Witthoft Feb 15 '21 at 13:28
  • @CarlWitthoft The launch occurs automatically without human involvement in launch control. There is no need for a dramatic countdown show here. The launch will take place or not. – A. Rumlin Feb 15 '21 at 17:44