Joke Collection Website - Bulletin headlines - Does the verbal countdown before modern rocket launch still have practical significance?

Does the verbal countdown before modern rocket launch still have practical significance?

From a purely technical point of view, it makes no sense. The moment the rocket takes off is called T0. It is estimated that after watching so many rocket launches, you can really understand what No. 0 (the one who pressed the launch button) said after the launch (that is, T0, XX hours, XX minutes, XX seconds, xxx milliseconds). Very few, at least I haven't heard "T0" clearly before. The T0 time is of course important for orbit calculation. The problem is that the current automated launch management system will automatically transmit the T0 time to all measurement and control stations as soon as the rocket is launched. Therefore, whether to read T0 or not is mainly for the on-site and Television viewers listened. It doesn't matter if it's earlier or later. Because general low-Earth orbit spacecraft have very low requirements for launch windows, even for deep space probes such as Chang'e, although the launch window is short, it does not have to be launched within a certain second. However, the invention of the countdown itself was not based on technical considerations. It was mainly used to give people a sense of urgency of time through the countdown. This has a huge psychological effect on all personnel participating in the launch. A rocket launch requires the mobilization of a lot of people, from the survey ship in the Pacific Ocean to the final evacuation personnel from the launch pad, which definitely requires unified command and dispatch. Listening to the countdown is very useful in supervising the work of all candidates and keeping in sync. Because although most of the work is completed automatically, people still need to trigger it. Pressing the launch button is just one step. There are many other various tasks that require people to give initial commands. The verbal countdown has always been for people to listen to. The Rockets will not listen to the countdown. The American rockets always ignite during the countdown and directly liftoff when it reaches 0.