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NASA managers have targeted space shuttle Discovery's launch for no earlier than Dec. 17. Shuttle managers determined more tests and analysis are needed before proceeding with the STS-133 mission. The launch status meeting planned for Monday, Nov. 29, has been postponed and will be rescheduled. The Program Requirements Control Board reviewed on Wednesday repairs and engineering evaluations associated with cracks on two 21-foot-long, U-shaped aluminum brackets, called stringers, on the shuttle's external tank. Managers decided the analysis and tests required to launch Discovery safely are not complete. The work will continue through next week. The next status review by the...

Sunday’s episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska attracted 3 million viewers – that’s more viewer’s more than the 2.4 million viewers who tuned in for the best performing season finale of AMC’s hit series, Mad Men. As expected with any highly anticipated series, this week’s ratings dipped from last week’s record-setting ratings of 4.96 million viewers. It’s of course difficult to determine everything that affects ratings, but some are speculating that Sunday Night Football and the American Music Awards may have had an impact on the numbers. Find more information about these ratings at Hollywood Reporter. Don’t let pundits fool with...

With repairs to the fuel tank of the shuttle Discovery still underway, NASA shuttle program managers on Nov. 18 retargeted the earliest date for a second round of launch opportunities for the agency’s senior orbiter from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. The delay will permit more time for agency managers to establish flight rationale using the repaired fuel tank. The upcoming launch period will close three days later to permit a Dec. 15 Soyuz launching with three U.S., Russian and European space station crewmembers. Other station activities and shuttle thermal control system restrictions are steering the opening of the next...

Preliminary analysis of the space shuttle’s Discovery’s leaking Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) shows a misaligned seal, a NASA spokesman said Nov. 11. “Not to get ahead of the engineering investigation, but they’re analyzing the flight seal, which they found wasn’t aligned properly. The team plans to install a new GUCP ... connectors, seal, etc., by tomorrow,” Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Beutel said in an e-mail to Aviation Week. The GUCP leak forced NASA to cancel its Nov. 5 launch attempt of Discovery on the STS-133 mission, an 11-day space station assembly and maintenance mission that will be the...

NASA has postponed the launch of Discovery’s 11-day mission to the International Space Station until no earlier than Nov. 30, following a substantial leak of hydrogen gas at a launch pad vent-line fitting during a Nov. 5 countdown to the orbiter’s 39th and final mission. The leak at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP), surfaced before 8 a.m. EDT, and the pre-launch Mission Management Team (MMT) initially braced for repairs that would permit another flight attempt on Nov. 8, a day beyond the nominal closing of the launch window. However, it soon became clear that the lack of rapid access...

Storm Chasers' Matt Hughes Committed Suicide Although Matt Hughes, a spotter on the Discovery series Storm Chasers, died on May 26th, many fans only found out this week when told he suffered "a fatal injury at home." Today, we've learned it was from a suicide attempt. The death of storm-chaser Matt Hughes was today at the center of intense speculation. Mmany fans only found out the 30-year-old presenter had passed away at the end of Wednesday's episode of the Discovery series in which he starred. Hughes, who has a wife Kenda and two sons Collin and Hunter, actually died on...

NASA will Thursday try to launch space shuttle Discovery on its final voyage, although stormy weather could force yet another delay. Mission managers met Wednesday afternoon and into the evening to discuss an electrical problem that forced the latest postponement. They concluded the circuit breaker trouble no longer exists and the shuttle is safe to fly. But forecasters warned there is an 80 per cent chance that thunderstorms will keep Discovery on the pad. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:29 p.m. (1929 GMT).

Well this is live launch thread of the Space Shuttle Discovery..

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Discovery has new seals and is no longer leaking. It also has an official launch date. NASA's senior managers met Monday and set Discovery's last liftoff for next Monday. Launch time is 4:40 p.m. This will be Discovery's 39th and final mission as NASA retires its three remaining

It’s been less than a week and we have another example of violent imagery involving children from leftist environmentalists. This time its from a newly resurfaced slide show over at Treehugger.com (h/t Adam Baldwin), which is owned by Discovery, that rates environmental ads by how cool they are. Apparently hanging children is cool:

F/V Cornelia Marie Sets Course for Discovery’s DEADLIEST CATCH Once Again – Boat skippered by late Captain Phil Harris returns w/ Josh and Jake Harris on board – October 4, 2010 (Silver Spring, Md.) Discovery Channel President and General Manager Clark Bunting announced F/V Cornelia Marie, the crab fishing vessel that late Captain Phil Harris called home, will return with deckhands Josh and Jake Harris to fish the icy Bering Sea as DEADLIEST CATCH begins filming its seventh season. “Our Dad made a tremendous connection with so many fans and it is such a fitting tribute to his life that...

Thomas More Society Charges Forward in ND88 Case, Winning the Right to Take a Deposition of Former Notre Dame Official Posted by Thomas More Society (September 22, 2010 at 9:03 am) For Immediate Release South Bend, Ind.—Late Monday, a St. Joseph County Circuit Court Judge ruled that attorneys from the Thomas More Society may depose a former official recently fired by the University of Notre Dame—a key ruling for the defense in the case of the “ND88,” the 88 pro-life demonstrators arrested at the University for protesting President Obama’s receiving honors at the commencement ceremonies in 2009. Chief Judge Michael...

Capts. Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand -- who were sued earlier this month by Discovery for allegedly not performing work on a planned spinoff special -- as well as Capt. Sig Hansen, issued a statement to the Hollywood Reporter this afternoon saying they are "unable" to continue on the hit adventure series due to the litigation.

Most reality TV producers follow a simple format: Capture what happens, and then have cast-members fill in story gaps with voice-overs and cutaways. But what to do when reality TV stars jump ship before sitting down for the required interviews? Sue them, of course. Discovery is seeking $3 million in damages after two stars of "Deadliest Catch," Jonathan and Andy Hillstrand, allegedly failed to live up to an agreement to complete a spin-off project.

Discovery hostages knew gunman was ready to dieSeptember 18, 2010 - 6:12am By BEN NUCKOLS Associated Press Writer BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - As they lay on the floor of the Discovery Communications' lobby, listening to a gunman James Jae Lee rant about overpopulation, religion and the channel's programming and watching him strap a bomb to himself, two hostages came to the same conclusion: The gunman had no intention of leaving the building alive. Jim McNulty and Christopher Wood tried to placate gunman James Jae Lee the best they could during the Sept. 1 standoff. They lied about their jobs at...

There's a television star moored at a dock in Ballard, but not for much longer. Later this month, the Wizard will sail back to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The crab-fishing boat, one of five featured on the Discovery Channel show "Deadliest Catch," spends its springs and summers in Seattle. It spends autumn and winter on the Bering Sea while crew members pull pots of crabs up from the ocean floor. The Wizard's fishing season has been documented by camera crews for several years, but television can't quite capture what it's like to be aboard the 65-year-old vessel. There's nothing like diesel...

Humans were problem for Discovery Channel attackerBy Gary Harmon Sunday, September 5, 2010 Well, that’s one way to reduce the surplus population. Al Gore acolyte James J. Lee managed to get himself offed by a police sharpshooter after taking over the Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., on Wednesday. No word on whether the sharpshooter used EPA-approved ammunition in the job, not that it should matter. In some quarters, though, such issues weigh heavily. Wouldn’t want the lethal projectile to harm the environment, after all. Lee, it turns out, might be one who would have wished to be ushered...

Sorry about the vanity but I already in the past few hours have heard multiple references stop not being sure what James Lee motives were or questions about whether he was right-wing or left-wing because he mentioned being against anchor babies. Alan Colmes on my drive home was ranting at Steve Mulzberg that he was against ‘anchor babies’ and that was a right-wing cause. Well I happen to have the book ‘ISHMAEL’ on my bookshelf. I read it sometime about ten years ago and James Lee motives for being against immigration all come from this book as well. It has...

On Wednesday, September 1 James Jay Lee stormed into the Discovery Channel’s office and took several hostages. He had a long list of grievances, most related to the human population and the environment. His rhetoric made him sound more like a real-life Kodos the Executioner than an environmental activist. To put it mildly, Lee was a man with an ax to grind. People will argue for months as to whether the guy was a leftist or a rightey, and it's a good bet that neither side will be willing to say, "Yeah, he was one of us." Who'd want to?

James Lee, the bomb-laden gunman who was killed by police in the lobby of the Discovery Channel, was once convicted and imprisoned for smuggling illegal immigrants into the country from Mexico...