Discovery sits on Launch Pad 39B after the Rotating Service Structure was rolled back at the Kennedy Space Center. (AP Photo/Scott Audette)
Posted on 07/25/2005 4:24:13 PM PDT by OXENinFLA
Poised for Liftoff
Space Shuttle Discovery rests in full view on the launch pad. Image above: The rolling back of Launch Pad 39B's Rotating Service Structure reveals orbiter Discovery. + Click for larger image. Image credit: NASA/KSC
Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-114, NASA's Return to Flight mission, is set for Tuesday at 10:39 a.m. EDT.
The launch pad's Rotating Service Structure (RSS) was rolled away from Discovery at 3:38 p.m. on Monday. When in place, the giant enveloping appendage is used to install payloads into an orbiter's cargo bay and provide protection from inclement weather. With the RSS now out of the way, propellant loading is set to begin after midnight Tuesday morning with the pumping of more than 500,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen into the vehicle's orange External Tank.
The chance of Kennedy weather cooperating for the launch remains at 60 percent.
First Lady Laura Bush will join other dignitaries and VIPs at Kennedy for the Return to Flight liftoff, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan announced earlier today.
Discovery sits on Launch Pad 39B after the Rotating Service Structure was rolled back at the Kennedy Space Center. (AP Photo/Scott Audette)
2 minutes away from T-minus nine minute mandatory hold...
Go Eileen Go!
{Remembers excitedly watching the launch of STS-7 in 1983 and saying "Ride, Sally Ride!}
"...That looks like a kitchen timer tacked up in front of her head on the overhead panel!..."
It IS a kitchen timer. Several are carried on each flight to to count up or down for a variety of events.
I'm up (barely) --- thank you for the ping.
Good morning all,
Let's light this candle up.
Vaya con dios to the crew of Discovery!
SpaceflightNow.com
1345 GMT (9:45 a.m. EDT)
T-minus 9 minutes and holding. Countdown clocks have gone into the planned 45-minute built-in hold. Today's launch remains set for 10:39:00 a.m. EDT. There are no significant technical problems being reported and the weather is just fine.
She sure has the right stuff...
I rented the movie too, but it just doesn't come close to the book. I read in Deke Slayton's book that he hated the movie, just hated it because he thought that Gus Grissom got trashed in it.
Ciao!
Probably a dumb question..but in the official crew photo, two are wearing white spacesuits...but here, all in the orange...why?
Oh, yes. By the way, Sputnik went up when I was in high school and I remember being able to look up in the sky and seeing it pass overhead. I remember when the monkey went up. No, I don't mean John Glenn.
On scheduled hold..
Let's hope this goes off without a hitch.
Those are the space walkers wearing the white suits.
NASA Astronaut Carpooling BUs below.
Just another day in the life of folks that choose to live on the edge of discovery and danger. Godspeed STS-114
The crew for Mission STS-114 drives out in their bus to the space shuttle Discovery (background) on launch day at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida July 26, 2005. Discovery cleared a critical countdown hurdle when a suspect sensor performed well during fueling, clearing the way for the first shuttle launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster. REUTERS/Rick Wilking
Indeed she does. And yet, a couple of months ago some bozo was insisting that her selection as commander of this mission was "more PC crap." For some reason he was offended when I told him that Eileen Collins was not only smarter and more able than he, but that she could also probably kick is @ss in a fight. ;-)
I really don't care who flies the shuttle (male or female), just as long the person has the right qualifications to do it and the standards are the same..
OK..thanks..but since they all wear orange at launch..why differentiate the two in the official photo..crew photos should stress cohension..
You got it, Kevin. NASA's got its problems, but the Astronauts aren't one of them. Amazing folks.
That's about the only thing I miss about the Cold War. All that competition. The fear of the Russians beating us really kept us motivated to keep pushing that envelope.
Maybe China can scare us enough to get off our butts and get to the next level in spaceflight and space exploration.
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