Discovery Countdown has begun!!!

[southsider2k5]

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050710/...SHUTTLE-DC.html

 

:usa

[Queen Prawn]

[Soxy]

Eileen Collins is from around where I live now--so it's getting mucho coverage. I hope it goes well. . .

[southsider2k5]

The launch of Discovery will be covered live by the networks

 

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story...0&w=RTR&coview=

[FlaSoxxJim]

I'm taking the day off of work tomorrow so I can see the launch.

 

[southsider2k5]

I'm taking the day off of work tomorrow so I can see the launch.

 

   

 

I wish I could be there... One of the things I want to do before I die is see a launch in person. I spent 3 years during the beginning of the Shuttle program living about a mile away from JSC, and it was some of the neatest moments of my life to experience that stuff first hand.

[kapkomet]

I wish I could be there... One of the things I want to do before I die is see a launch in person.  I spent 3 years during the beginning of the Shuttle program living about a mile away from JSC, and it was some of the neatest moments of my life to experience that stuff first hand.

I remember seeing a launch in 1986 from Daytona Beach - yes - you could see it that far. However, I would LOVE to go to the Cape and see, hear, and better yet, feel the power, of a launch.

[kapkomet]

:uhoh

 

 

No launch for the shuttle tomorrow now...

 

HEADLINE:

NASA: Window cover falls off shuttle, damages thermal tiles near tail

 

Edit: Apparently it's not that bad, but they need to inspect for actual damage.

Edited July 12, 2005 by kapkomet

[Balta1701]

Latest update:

 

A cover panel on a cockpit window of the space shuttle Discovery fell off Tuesday on the eve of the spacecraft's launch, damaging protective tiles near the tail, NASA officials said.

 

Technicians from the space agency inspected the damage Tuesday afternoon and did not know whether it would force a postponement of the launch, the first since the 2003 Columbia disaster, a NASA spokeswoman said.

 

Discovery was cleared to "go" earlier Tuesday.

 

"We're go for launch tomorrow pending weather," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin.

 

Officials had said there was a chance of a weather-related launch delay, but Griffin said NASA isn't "working any significant issues" that could threaten Wednesday's liftoff, set for 3:51 p.m. ET.

 

The Discovery orbiter has been poised on launching pad 39B and outfitted with an expansive array of safety modifications designed to avert a tragedy like the one that claimed the lives of Columbia's seven crew members.

 

"Can there be something that we don't know about that can bite us? Yeah. This is a very tough business," Griffin told reporters at a space center news conference. "But everything we know about has been covered."

Weather delay

 

"We're tracking no significant issues in our preparations as the hardware continues to perform nominally," said NASA test director Jeff Spaulding at Tuesday morning's countdown status briefing.

 

Storm systems have threatened to delay the launch, but NASA officials said conditions still indicate only a 40 percent chance for a launch delay due to weather, according to shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters.

 

"We're going to see some showers and possibly even a thunderstorm develop during the countdown. We might actually have to go red during the countdown," Winters said.

 

"But then as the sea breeze progresses to the west with the easterly flow, we should actually see an improvement in the weather at the launch pad."

 

NASA has committed to daytime launches for the next two shuttle missions to ensure ideal lighting conditions for the cameras that will scrutinize the shuttle's ascent into orbit.

 

The shuttle Columbia accident was caused by foam insulation that broke off during launch from the shuttle's external fuel tank, striking and cracking a panel on the orbiter's wing.

 

When the shuttle re-entered Earth's atmosphere 16 days later, searing hot gases seeped into the wing and incinerated the spacecraft.

 

NASA immediately grounded its three remaining shuttles and pledged to find the problems, fix the shuttle and return to flight.

 

In the 2.5 years since the accident, NASA has undergone a wrenching overhaul of the shuttle program.

[Balta1701]

Discovery will launch...

 

The launch of the space shuttle Discovery will go ahead as scheduled Wednesday after technicians fixed tiles damaged near the spacecraft's tail Tuesday, a NASA spokesman said.

 

The tiles were damaged when a cover panel on the No. 7 cockpit window fell off as the orbiter sat on the launch pad, officials said.

 

Discovery was cleared to "go" earlier Tuesday.

 

"We're go for launch tomorrow pending weather," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin.

 

Officials had said there was a chance of a weather-related launch delay, but Griffin said NASA isn't "working any significant issues" that could threaten Wednesday's liftoff, set for 3:51 p.m. ET.

 

The Discovery orbiter has been poised on launching pad 39B and outfitted with an expansive array of safety modifications designed to avert a tragedy like the one that claimed the lives of Columbia's seven crew members.

 

"Can there be something that we don't know about that can bite us? Yeah. This is a very tough business," Griffin told reporters at a space center news conference. "But everything we know about has been covered."

Weather delay

 

"We're tracking no significant issues in our preparations as the hardware continues to perform nominally," said NASA test director Jeff Spaulding at Tuesday morning's countdown status briefing.

 

Storm systems have threatened to delay the launch, but NASA officials said conditions still indicate only a 40 percent chance for a launch delay due to weather, according to shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters.

 

"We're going to see some showers and possibly even a thunderstorm develop during the countdown. We might actually have to go red during the countdown," Winters said.

 

"But then as the sea breeze progresses to the west with the easterly flow, we should actually see an improvement in the weather at the launch pad."

 

NASA has committed to daytime launches for the next two shuttle missions to ensure ideal lighting conditions for the cameras that will scrutinize the shuttle's ascent into orbit.

[southsider2k5]

I remember seeing a launch in 1986 from Daytona Beach - yes - you could see it that far.  However, I would LOVE to go to the Cape and see, hear, and better yet, feel the power, of a launch.

 

I saw a night launch from Daytona when I was down there in 1996 with the track team. It was about 3 am and it was awesome. I want to be on the Cape though.

[kapkomet]

The great Meg trip.

[southsider2k5]

The great Meg trip. 

 

Nope. PM. Post Meg.

[Queen Prawn]

I heard there was a fueling delay, but it wasn't supposed to delay launch.

 

It seems like they are rushing this thing - I hope for th sake of the astronauts, that is not true.

[kapkomet]

Nope.  PM.  Post Meg.

Oh that's right. Cause PMS (post-meg-sc.) wouldn't have taken a trip like that.

 

[Kid Gleason]

I saw a luanch YEARS ago, back in the 80's when they were still new. Our bus got lost, so we were parked miles away from the thing. It was just a speck in the sky, but I have never encountered such a LOUD noise in my entire life. Those things are SERIOUSLY LOUD!!! Just amazing.

[Balta1701]

On a geology field trip when I was a Junior (sedimentology class looking at beach, marsh deposits) we were on the Panhandle near Appalachicola and renting out a couple of rooms on the beach when a shuttle was going up.

 

Naturally, I was the only one on the trip who knew shuttle launch schedules, so I was prepared to hop out of bed and hit the beach @ 5:00 a.m. to watch the thing.

 

Actually could see a big ball of light rise up in the sky to the SE, and then dispapear behind the clouds. The sun then started to come up and illuminate the smoke trail. Incredible sight.

 

I also heard the sonic boom from one flying overhead one morning while I was in high school...waiting for the bus.

[Balta1701]

Latest update: they've raised the odds of a weather-related delay to 60%.

 

The weather may put a damper on the space shuttle Discovery's liftoff Wednesday, NASA's first scheduled mission to space 2 1/2 years after the Columbia disaster.

 

Mission managers are keeping an eye on the skies as forecasters predict a 60 percent chance of a "no go" for the launch due to possible cumulus clouds over the liftoff site.

 

An earlier forecast called for a 40 percent chance of unfavorable weather.

 

Discovery's launch time is set for 3:51 p.m. ET.

 

Discovery's seven astronauts waved to cheering visitors and staffers at the space center as they boarded a special bus in the rain to take them to the orbiter.

 

The 13-day mission will mark the shuttle program's first since Columbia broke apart over Texas during re-entry to Earth in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

 

Earlier Wednesday, technicians finished fueling Discovery. Pumping a half-million gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel into the shuttle's giant orange exterior tank was delayed briefly while engineers worked on a ground support heater.

'Minor repair' cited

 

Discovery sustained an apparently minor setback Tuesday when a plastic and foam cover fell about 65 feet from a cockpit window and damaged two protective tiles near the orbiter's tail section. The tiles were replaced, and the schedule resumed unchanged.

 

"This is a minor repair for us," Discovery vehicle manager Stephanie Stilson said.

 

The window cover struck the left-hand housing for the shuttle's orbital maneuvering system -- the network of small rocket engines that control the Discovery as it circles Earth -- when it fell from a cockpit window, Stilson said.

 

The cover, which weighs less 2 pounds, is designed to protect the windows while the shuttle is on the launch pad and is removed before liftoff. NASA did not know how the shield had come loose, she said.

 

The loss of the Columbia was blamed on damage to a heat-resistant panel. The panels and insulating tiles make up the shuttle's thermal protection system.

 

NASA concluded a piece of foam from Columbia's external fuel tank hit the shuttle's wing during liftoff, punching a hole in the reinforced carbon-carbon panel and allowing super-hot gas into the wing during re-entry.

 

The piece of foam believed to have doomed Columbia also weighed less than 2 pounds.

 

Engineers at NASA's mission control in Houston, Texas, would "run all the numbers" overnight to ensure the orbiter is fit for launch, Stilson said.

 

"Can there be something that we don't know about that can bite us? Yeah. This is a very tough business," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said at a space center news conference Tuesday. "But everything we know about has been covered."

 

NASA has committed to daytime launches for the next two shuttle missions to ensure ideal lighting conditions for the cameras to scrutinize the shuttle's ascent into orbit.

[Gene Honda Civic]

I saw a luanch YEARS ago, back in the 80's when they were still new. Our bus got lost, so we were parked miles away from the thing. It was just a speck in the sky, but I have never encountered such a LOUD noise in my entire life. Those things are SERIOUSLY LOUD!!! Just amazing.

I saw a night launch from an orlando area rooftop. That was cool. It was the mid/late 90's though, and space lauches were commonplace then.

 

Thinking about it more. It was when Apollo 13 was out. I had no desire to see that movie, but after I saw the launch, I went the next day.

 

====

 

I'm guessing no launch today.

[Balta1701]

I'm guessing no launch today.

Do you know if there's a specific window during which they have to launch? Some launches have limited launch windows because of something the shuttle has to launch or rendezvous with, but if there's none of that, then they might have some flexibility in the schedule so that they could wait until the skies clear.

[Goldmember]

Do you know if there's a specific window during which they have to launch?  Some launches have limited launch windows because of something the shuttle has to launch or rendezvous with, but if there's none of that, then they might have some flexibility in the schedule so that they could wait until the skies clear.

 

watching fox news. said they have window until the 31st. specifically like five minutes each day.

[Gene Honda Civic]

postponed. I.Win.

[southsider2k5]

Damn

[Balta1701]

A fault in the shuttle's fuel-tank sensor system forced NASA to call off today's launch of Discovery. The mission was scheduled to be the first shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster 2 1/2 years ago. The space agency did not immediately set a new launch date.

[Balta1701]

Here's another update/bump.

 

A faulty fuel sensor aboard the space shuttle Discovery forced NASA on Wednesday to scrub its first attempt to launch a shuttle after the Columbia disaster 2 1/2 years ago.

 

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said the next possible launch attempt would not be until at least Monday.

 

NASA said the device was showing low fuel levels despite the exterior tank having been filled just hours before.

 

"It will take some time really to understand what to do to remedy the situation," NASA spokesman George Diller said.

 

"There are long faces here in the control center and around the site. Everybody was so looking forward to flying today."

 

The current launch window expires July 31, and the next begins in September.

 

Crew members were all aboard the orbiter when the announcement to cancel was made.

 

A series of mishaps marked the last 24 hours before Discovery's scheduled launch.

 

Earlier Wednesday, it appeared foul weather might postpone the high-profile mission to the international space station. Filling the massive external fuel tank was delayed early in the morning while a ground heater was repaired.

 

On Tuesday, a cockpit window cover fell and damaged two protective tiles near the orbiter's tail section.

 

But it was the fuel sensor that stopped the launch, a little more than three hours before the scheduled 3:51 p.m. launch.

 

The sensor monitors the amount of super-cold hydrogen fuel in the tank and tells the orbiter's engines to shut down if there's not enough fuel.

 

A launch controller described it as "a low-level fuel sensor in the external fuel tank, one of a set of four -- two of which are needed to work."