Space Shuttle Discovery Launch Live Thread (1:36 AM EDT 08/25/09)

08/24/09 | Kevin Davis

[KevinDavis]

DVR GO!!!

[Daniel II]

“Astronaut Jose Hernandez just tweeted on his Twitter page”

No! No! No! No! No! It’s Jose Jimenez.

My name Jose Jimenez.

[KevinDavis]

The astronauts are donning their day-glow orange launch and entry partial pressure spacesuits. After final adjustments and pressure checks, the astronauts will depart the suitup room and take the elevator down to the ground level of the Operations and Checkout Building to board the AstroVan for the trip to launch pad 39A around 9:46 p.m.

[KevinDavis]

The odds of weather being acceptable at the 1:36 a.m. EDT remain at 80 percent. Air Force meteorologists say the rain and clouds will continue to dissipate.

[KevinDavis]

The Final Inspection Team reports a small piece of ice around the liquid hydrogen umbilical between the pad’s service mast and the aft engine compartment of Discovery that is about 4.5 inches long and .25 inches thick. Ice in this area is not unusual.

[crghill]

Would this be viewable from Key Largo Florida?

[KevinDavis]

I think so.. Provided you don’t have clouds in your area..

[KevinDavis]

It’s starting to rain at the Kennedy Space Center again. At the present time, the current weather conditions are “no go” for launch due to lightning concerns, cumulus clouds and anvil clouds. Meteorologists continuously monitor the weather and update launch officials are rules go red and green. The outlook says the conditions will improve by launch time.

[KevinDavis]

T-minus 3 hours and counting. The countdown clocks are ticking again after the planned two-and-a-half hour built-in hold. Clocks will proceed to T-minus 20 minutes when the next hold is scheduled. A final hold occurs at the T-minus 9 minute mark to synch up with the 1:36:04 a.m. EDT launch time.

[KevinDavis]

The astronauts have emerged from the suitup room.

[KevinDavis]

Running a few minutes ahead of schedule, crew just departed their quarters. The astronauts are boarding the AstroVan for the ride from the Industrial Area to launch pad 39A on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Commander Mark Polansky, pilot Doug Hurley, flight engineer Julie Payette, spacewalkers Chris Cassidy, Tom Marshburn and Dave Wolf, and station-bound astronaut Tim Kopra emerged from crew quarters at 2:12 p.m. EDT.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Awfully late, but I’ll have the camera set up and take pics from Lakeland....if there’s no clouds.

[KevinDavis]

The AstroVan is passing the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building where Discovery 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.

The rain has stopped and the concern about lightning has passed.

[cva66snipe]

Or a few months Quantum leap back in time LOL.

[KevinDavis]

Discovery’s crew arrived atop launch pad 39A at 10:01 p.m. EDT. 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.

[NCC-1701]

What launch are you watching? That crew went up a month or so ago.

[manc]

in st augustine and can see it from my back garden on a clear day

won;’t be up for this though

[KevinDavis]

Shuttle commander Rick Sturckow, a 48-year-old Marine colonel who grew up on a ranch outside of San Diego, California, leads this voyage of Discovery. It will be his fourth spaceflight to the International Space Station, having been a pilot on STS-88 and -105 and commander on STS-117.

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

[KevinDavis]

Nicole Stott, the station-bound astronaut set to join the Expedition 21 crew living aboard the outpost, serves as Discovery's mission specialist No. 5 for the launch. The 46-year-old from Clearwater, Florida attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University before going to work as a structrual design engineer at Pratt & Whitney. She then became a Kennedy Space Center worker on space shuttles and station hardware.

Once at the space station, she will exchange places with astronaut Tim Kopra, who then will return to Earth on the shuttle to conclude a month-and-a-half in space.

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

[londonfog]

I am sorry. We can not afford this futile endeavor. Money is gone.

[manc]

I agree

another point

SS gets topped on going up due no rise in cost of living but Govt wages go up due to cost of living

shows how mad the left have become