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SpaceRunning the go/no-go poll
Minutes before the terminal count, the launch director asks every position, one by one, if it is ready. Each answers "go" or "no-go", and only a "go" from everyone opens the final count. You set up who has that authority, the channels they hear and the words they use, then run the poll the way NASA does it for its launches.
Free to startScenarios
- Artemis II: the launch director polls the team at 6:22 p.m. and the rocket lifts off at 6:35 p.m.
- A NASA payload on a commercial launch: the NASA Launch Manager polls about 5 minutes before launch and passes the final "Go" to the contractor's launch director.
- One position answers "no-go".
The steps
- Before the count, check the procedures name, by person or position title, who may issue "hold/resume", "go/no go" and abort commands.
- Give each of them a communication network with direct access to the real-time safety-critical information they need for those calls.
- Use the defined radio terminology, and confirm everyone works with the current approved version of the communication procedures.
- Record every safety-critical communication channel used for voice, video or data during the countdown.
- Make sure the safety official has direct access to the mission director, and that every concern the safety official raises is addressed.
- Poll each party in turn: the spacecraft mission director gives the spacecraft go/no-go, then the independent technical authorities and the other organizations in the countdown.
- Get a "Go" or "Ready" from every party polled before entering the terminal count. Critical point
- Give the final launch "Go" commitment to the launch director who runs the count.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Without a "Go" from every party polled, there is no terminal count.
- Mandatory launch constraints cannot be waived after the terminal countdown starts.
To pass
- Authority over hold, go/no-go and abort defined before the count, with recorded channels.
- Every party polled answers, and the count goes on only with a unanimous "go".
- The final "Go" passed to the launch director before the terminal count.
Official source
NASA · NPD 8610.24C · 14 CFR 450.157
NPD 8610.24C, Launch Services Program Pre-Launch Readiness Reviews
NASA publishes NPD 8610.24C free in its NODIS library: who runs the Final Commit-to-Launch Poll, who answers and why a "Go" from all is required.
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