This is the moment I smiled uncontrollably and
clapped my hands! Hooray for clean jettison!
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.
This is the moment I smiled uncontrollably and
clapped my hands! Hooray for clean jettison!
They say the shuttle is the most complicated machine in the history of humankind....it's an amazing thing...
Thanks for recording these great pics.
Oh......WOW!!! Thanks!!
Lovely. Breathtaking. Brave.
Everything looks good. Excellent. I'll pray for a safe return. Speed: 8,000 mph.
I imagine that the Camera shots are better now so that we can look for any damage.
Beautiful launch.
Take THAT you Islamofascist murdering pigs. This is the resiliency of the United States of America!
We are much better than you. You will not win, we will. You will NEVER defeat us.
Hail Discovery!!
FNC: Hopes kids are inspired. No other nation on earth can do this.
I know what you mean...I saw the exhaust flames start to flicker and thought to myself, "Oh please let them be about ready to separate," and then not two seconds later the NASA guy gave the separation call and I saw the boosters fall away. Whew!
}:-)4
Getting great picture from external tank camera.
2:00 'til main engine cutoff. All three engines good.
Geek!
LOL!!!
80 secs to engine cutoff
You have tears too! I'm a mess. So emotional, but wow, wow, wow, this is beyond awesome. Such clarity and a perfect, beautiful day.
John Scott on FoxNews: "There is no other nation on the face of the earth that can do that."
[Take that al=Qaeda. Stay in your 7th Century.]
2 minutes to main engine cutoff.
I'm on Fox. Gotta find CSpan. My CSpan is not showing. Back to Fox.
SpaceflightNow.com
1444 GMT (10:44 a.m. EDT)
T+plus 5 minutes, 55 seconds. Discovery is rolling to a heads-up position.
1444 GMT (10:44 a.m. EDT)
T+plus 5 minutes, 25 seconds. Discovery can now reach a orbit on the power of two main engines should one fail. But all three continue to fire properly.
speed 14800
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