Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch Live Thread (7/12/09 7:13 p.m. EDT)

SPACE.com ^ | July 12, 2009 | Clara Moskowitz

[John W]

Shuttle Endeavour "Go" For Launch Today

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Endeavour is "Go" to launch today, NASA said, after ground crews found no signs of damage from a lightning strike on Friday.

The crews completed all the necessary check outs of the vehicle's critical systems and cleared the shuttle for lift off this morning around 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT). Endeavour is now slated to blast off this evening at 7:13 p.m. EDT (2313 GMT) from Launch Pad 39A here at Kennedy Space Center.

[TheRobb7]

I wonder where the earthquake is gonna be.

(how many will get the movie reference ?)

Hint: Mel Gibson

[don-o]

ping

Kevin, I assume you will be putting up the traditional live thread for the launch? Hope so.

[John W]

I put this up as he hasn’t posted since Friday, thought he might be out for the weekend.

[John W]

[John W]

Conspiracy Theory. Guess my movie poster was from an improper source as it disappeared with the traditional total lack of explanation.

[don-o]

That’s cool. Thanks. Shuttle launch (and landing) threads are some of my favorites. I was online for the Columbia disaster and I always try to be on board.

[KevinDavis]

This is going to be the live thread...

[KevinDavis]

The freighter moved within approximately 33 feet of the station and has begun the backaway sequence.

[KevinDavis]

Progress has completed its engine burns to fly away from the International Space Station following today’s rendezvous test. The small cargo-delivery spacecraft, which delivered equipment, fuel and food to the station over the past couple of months, will be deorbited on Monday.

[KevinDavis]

For those keeping score at home, the fueling of space shuttle Endeavour officially began at 9:48 a.m. and concluded at 12:48 p.m. EDT, precisely on-time, NASA says.

[KevinDavis]

The AstroVan is passing the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building where Endeavour was attached to its external tank and solid rocket boosters and the adjacent Launch Control Center.

The Press Site is located across the street, and reporters went outside to watch at the passing convoy. This is a launch day tradition to say farewell and good luck to the astronaut crews

[KevinDavis]

Check out Spaceflight Now

[KevinDavis]

Endeavour’s crew has arrived at launch pad 39A. The AstroVan came to a stop on the pad surface near the Fixed Service Structure tower elevator that will take the seven-man crew to the 195-foot level to begin boarding the shuttle.

[KevinDavis]

Formal approval from the Firing Room has been given for the astronauts to start ingressing the orbiter.

[KevinDavis]

Shuttle commander Mark Polansky, a 53-year-old aviator born in New Jersey, leads this voyage of Endeavour. It will be his third spaceflight, having been a pilot and a commander on two previous construction missions to the space station in 2001 and 2006.

He is the first astronaut to board the shuttle this afternoon, taking the forward-left seat on the flight deck.

[KevinDavis]

Tim Kopra, the station-bound astronaut set to join the Expedition 20 crew living aboard the outpost, serves as Endeavour's mission specialist No. 5 for the launch. The 45-year-old from Austin, Texas is a colonel in the U.S. Army. Once at the space station, he will exchange places with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who then will return to Earth on the shuttle to conclude three-and-a-half months in space.

Kopra just crawled through Endeavour's hatch to take the right-hand seat on the middeck.

[KevinDavis]

Doug Hurley, a 42-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps born in New York, will be Endeavour's pilot. He has over 3,200 hours in more than 20 different kinds of aircraft, including being the first ever Marine pilot to fly the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet.

This spaceflight rookie is making his way to the flight deck's front-right seat right now.

[George from New England]

Another day with a very high barometer reading. Very low lightning strike counts for the area for this time of year too.

Looks good.

[KevinDavis]

Tom Marshburn, a 48-year-old former emergency doctor and NASA flight surgeon born in North Carolina, is mission specialist No. 3 and another of the spacewalkers during Endeavour's trip to the station.

He will ride into space for the first time of his career in the middeck's left seat.

[KevinDavis]

Three hours and counting until liftoff time.

[KevinDavis]

A Navy SEAL is climbing into space shuttle Endeavour’s flight deck aft-right seat. Chris Cassidy, 39-year-old from Maine and spaceflight rookie is mission specialist No. 1. He will be one of the spacewalkers on the flight.

[KevinDavis]

Astronaut Dave Wolf, a veteran of three previous spaceflights ranging from a Spacelab mission, a four-month stint working aboard the Russian space station Mir and an earlier assembly flight to the International Space Station is the lead spacewalker on Endeavour. The 52-year-old medical doctor from Indianapolis is mission specialist No. 4.

Wolf will take the center seat on the middeck for ascent.

[KevinDavis]

Initialization of the ground launch sequencer has been completed. This is the master computer program that will run the final nine minutes of the countdown.

[KevinDavis]

The final Endeavour astronaut has boarded the shuttle today. Julie Payette, mission specialist No. 2 and flight engineer, has now entered the hatch. She will sit in the flight deck center seat, giving an extra set of eyes to aid the commander and pilot watch displays and switches during launch and landing.

The 45-year-old from Montreal, Quebec is a Canadian Space Agency astronaut. She visited the International Space Station once before in 1999.

[Eye of Unk]

I hope all goes well.They are getting all buckled in.

[KevinDavis]

T-minus 90 minutes and counting. Countdown clocks continue to tick down to T-minus 20 minutes where the next hold is planned. Activities remain on track for liftoff at 7:13 p.m.

The countdown is proceeding smoothly with no significant technical issues. The weather predictions still call for a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions. The only concern could be thunderstorms within 20 miles that would violate the weather rules.

[KevinDavis]

2 hrs to go ping!!!

[KevinDavis]

The final report from the inspection team's walkdown of the launch pad this afternoon had only one item of interest, NASA says. On the liquid hydrogen-side umbilical that connects to the side of Endeavour's aft compartment, there's what is being termed by the engineers as slushy ice on the aft seal edge. Officials are discussing the observation.

Also, one of the orbiter's thruster covers is partially debonded. But that is not a constraint to launch.

[Ladysmith]

Kevin, do you have a live stream link yet?

[KevinDavis]

Just two hours remain until the planned liftoff time.

The reusable solid rocket boosters, built by ATK, provide the primary thrust to propel the space shuttle away from Earth during the initial two minutes of flight. The 11 sections on each booster flying on Endeavour are a mixture of brand new and used hardware. The upper dome on the right-hand booster, for example, flew on STS-2 in 1981. In all, the twin boosters flying this morning have refurbished segments and pieces that trace back to 65 previous shuttle launches.

The boosters will parachute into the Atlantic Ocean where a pair of retrieval ships are standing by to recover the rockets and tow them back to shore, beginning again the process to disassemble, refurbish and reuse the hardware in the future.

[KevinDavis]

From NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

[Ladysmith]

Thanks, Buddy.

[KevinDavis]

No problem...

[KevinDavis]

The orbiter closeout team at the launch pad is closing Endeavour’s crew module hatch for flight.

[Blackhawk]

Anybody know a good HD Cannel to watch on with smallest amount of unknowledgable commentary possible?

[SE Mom]

Weather’s looking iffy at the moment- but it may blow past.

[KevinDavis]

This evening’s launch time, based on the International Space Station’s orbit and Endeavour’s trajectory, has been tweaked by one second. Liftoff is now targeted for 7:13:54 p.m. EDT.

[KevinDavis]

The ground pyro initiator controllers (PICs) are scheduled to be powered up around this time in the countdown. They are used to fire the solid rocket hold-down posts, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tail service mast and external tank vent arm system pyros at liftoff and the space shuttle main engine hydrogen gas burn system prior to engine ignition.

The shuttle's two Master Events Controllers are being tested. They relay the commands from the shuttle's computers to ignite, and then separate the boosters and external tank during launch.

[KevinDavis]

The primary weather concern will be showers or storms within 20 miles of the Kennedy Space Center runway where Endeavour would make an emergency landing in the event of a problem during launch. At the present time, the current conditions are observed “no go” due to a storm cell northwest of the spaceport.

[KevinDavis]

T-minus 20 minutes and holding. The countdown has paused for a 10-minute built-in hold. Launch is scheduled for 7:13 p.m. EDT, weather permitting. Storms to the northwest of the Kennedy Space Center have moved within the restricted 20 mile zone around the shuttle runway.

During this built-in hold, all computer programs in Firing Room 4 of the Complex 39 Launch Control Center will be verified to ensure that the proper programs are available for the countdown; the landing convoy status will be verified and the landing sites will be checked to support an abort landing during launch today; the Inertial Measurement Unit preflight alignment will be verified completed; and preparations are made to transition the orbiter onboard computers to Major Mode 101 upon coming out of the hold. This configures the computer memory to a terminal countdown configuration.

[mcmuffin]

Greetings all. I am/will be watching tonights launch from the turn basin less than 3 miles from launch pad A.
I’ll post photos later.
/gloat.

[dragnet2]

413 p.m. Pacific?

[KevinDavis]

Yes...

[KevinDavis]

The work to seal the shuttle’s crew compartment hatch for flight is complete. And the closeout team that assisted the astronauts into Endeavour this afternoon is preparing to leave the launch pad now.

[dragnet2]

Thanks Kevin...Been so busy, I wasn’t even aware of the launch.

[KevinDavis]

An hour to go ping!!!

[The Right Stuff]

I’m just down the beach, it should be magnificent!

[KevinDavis]

T-minus 20 minutes and counting. The countdown has resumed after a 10-minute hold. Clocks will tick down for the next 11 minutes to T-minus 9 minutes where the final planned hold is scheduled to occur. The hold length will be adjusted to synch up with today's preferred launch time of 7:13:54 p.m.

Endeavour's onboard computers are now transitioning to the Major Mode-101 program, the primary ascent software. Also, engineers are dumping the Primary Avionics Software System (PASS) onboard computers. The data that is dumped from each of PASS computers is compared to verify that the proper software is loaded aboard for launch.

[KevinDavis]

Pilot Doug Hurley is configuring the displays inside Endeavour’s cockpit for launch while commander Mark Polansky enables the abort steering instrumentation.