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.
Those external shots were indeed awesome. Seeing the separation.......
Indeed! And thanks to ALL the picture posters! Awesome!
Get this...I've just gotten an e-mail from one of my Iraqi subcontractors saying they watched the launch and congratulating the U.S.!!
Hope Lives!
Pass the Kleenex.
Coming up on external tank camera replay.
http://science.nasa.gov/temp/ShuttleLoc.html
It is saying there is no shuttle in orbit at this time, but I hope it is updated soon.
Anyone know how to figure out what time it will pass over, say, my house?
I got to see the shuttle pass one night and it was the coolest damn thing: a very bright star arcing across the sky. Just knowing that there were people on that "star" was incredibly amazing.
};o)
I can never figure out why I can hear it and even feel the vibrations in my chest and it is 100 miles away. I know when you are there at the Cape you have to wear ear protection or get them blown out.
I love it.
All of a sudden, I'm getting e-mails from Iraqis all excited about this.
I'm gonna get choked up again...
Easy.. Alllow me.He takes his flat screen TV...put it face down on his photocopier..then he prints the page, and scans it into his computer
Amen, sweetie..."Quagmire" indeed.
God Bless you and all like you who are making such a difference there.
Hey, Sarge, look what's goin' on!
lol, Eileen says she sees the sun going down over Europe. Pretty incredible!
Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!
Really, really, cool! Thanks for sharing that.
I'm gonna need another kleenex
SpaceflightNow.com
1512 GMT (11:12 a.m. EDT)
T+plus 33 minutes. A few seconds after solid rocket booster separation, a large chunk of something broke free from the external fuel tank. The onboard video camera mounted on the tank showed the object flying away from the vehicle without striking Discovery.
Discovery now passing over Saudi Arabia.
It has been two years, five months, and twentysix days since the Columbia tragedy. A long time between flights but we're back in space. Thank God for a safe ride uphill. I pray that the inspections form Krikalev and Phillips aboard ISS will find nothing wrong with the exterior of Discovery.
Good luck and Godspeed to the crew of STS-114 Discovry!
Not again!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.