Space Shuttle Discovery Launch Live Thread 8:47 est

12/09/06 | Kevin Davis

[KevinDavis]

Will the Shuttle go or not... It all depends on the weather...

[BallyBill]

LOL...yeah, of Florida.

That is a relief, I thought I've been missing out for years. I guess I should have mentioned I'm up in PA. The Shuttle launches rarely come up along the east coast and the few times they have, we seem to be overcast up here.

I'm out in a nice area away from cities, so I get a good view of orbiting sats and especially the Shuttle and Space Station when they are docked. I even got a great view of one of the first Chinese unmanned flights orbiting over head.

[RightWhale]

spaceflightnow.com

1755 GMT (12:55 p.m. EST)

FUELING BEGINS. After a couple-hour delay, loading of space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank with a half-million gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen is finally underway now. Work fell behind schedule overnight at pad 39B, which in turn forced the launch team to postpone the start of fueling. But the three-hour process to the load the external tank began with the chilldown thermal conditioning at about 12:46 p.m.

NASA believes there is sufficient margin left in the remaining countdown timeline to give Discovery a shot at launching tonight at 8:47 p.m. EST as scheduled.

Weather remains the wildcard, however. There is a 70 percent chance that low clouds and stiff crosswinds will violate the shuttle's weather rules.

[RightWhale]

spaceflightnow.com

1852 GMT (1:52 p.m. EST)

T-minus 3 hours and holding. The countdown has gone into the next planned hold in the timeline. This hold is scheduled to last three hours. NASA is not reporting any problems during today's fueling process.

[RightWhale]

spaceflightnow.com

1932 GMT (2:32 p.m. EST)

NASA says no technical problems are being worked in the countdown right now. Fueling continues to go well, despite the late start today.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Actually, the ESA launched 2 new sats yesterday, one is for more HD programming over the USA.

Which is cool.

[AdmSmith]

Is this the weather forecast? http://www.srh.noaa.gov/forecast/MapClick.php?site=mlb&map.x=199&map.y=115

[Howlin]

LOL......you and that HDTV!

[AdmSmith]

From http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts116/launch/launch-vlcc.html

4:02 p.m. - The Final Inspection Team has completed its inspection of the 255-foot level and is now proceeding down to the 215-foot level.

Did You Know?
European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang was once a Swedish national Frisbee champion, holding the national title in "maximum time aloft" in 1978. Fuglesang will take one of his personal Frisbees to the International Space Station.

3:51 p.m. - The Final Inspection Team has arrived at Launch Pad 39B and is progressing up to the 255-foot level.

3:47 p.m. - At least two of the three transatlantic abort landing sites are available for launch. Only one is required, so we should not have any concerns regarding this requirement for today's countdown.

3:42 p.m. - The Final Inspection Team (also known as the Ice Team) has been given clearance to go to the pad to begin its inspection of the External Tank. The team's seven NASA and contractor personnel assess the integrity of the thermal insulation on the external tank. They also look for ice and frost formations on the tank, measure temperatures on various parts of the vehicle, and assess debris concerns on the vehicle and pad that could impact launch or flight safety.

During the two-hour inspection, team members take the launch pad's elevator from the surface of the mobile launcher platform up to the 255-foot level, and methodically work their way back down. Using binoculars and a telescope, the team can get a better look at hard-to-see areas. This launch marks the first use of a new ice detection machine.

The Orbiter Closeout Crew has also been given clearance to proceed to the pad. They'll enter Discovery's crew module through the climate-controlled White Room to make the final preparations for the astronauts' arrival at the pad at about 6 p.m.

Assisting the Closeout Crew are the Astronaut Support Personnel. Nicknamed the "Cape Crusaders," they'll help prepare the crew module for launch today. The team supporting today's launch is led by astronaut Barry (Butch) Wilmore as Prime and astronauts Michael (Bueno) Good, Kathryn (Kay) Hire, Jose Hernandez and Robert Behnken.

3:39 p.m. - Tanking is complete, with 500,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants loaded into Discovery's external tank. Both are in stable replenish and will remain there until the final minutes of tonight's countdown. Today's tanking operations took just under three hours total.

3:34 p.m. - Liquid oxygen fast-fill is complete and we are into the topping phase now.

3:18 p.m. - The external tank's liquid hydrogen supply is being topped off now, a good sign that tanking is drawing to a close. The liquid oxygen loading is also nearing completion. Both should be finished in the next 30 minutes.

Did You Know?
The STS-116 patch design depicts the shuttle rising above the Earth and the space station. The U.S. and Swedish flags trail the shuttle, depicting the international composition of the crew. The seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major are used to provide direction to the North Star, which highlights where the P5 truss element will be installed on the station.

3:06 p.m. - In the dining room of the astronaut crew quarters, the crew members are sitting down to a snack and posing for pictures before climbing into their pumpkin-colored launch and entry suits. They'll also receive a weather update prior to their departure for the launch pad.

[ReignOfError]

European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang was once a Swedish national Frisbee champion, holding the national title in "maximum time aloft" in 1978. Fuglesang will take one of his personal Frisbees to the International Space Station.

If he chucks it during EVA, I think he's a cinch to shatter the time aloft record. Not to mention height and distance.

[AdmSmith]

I think that he can do it inside the shuttle as well, just let the Frisbee float and catch it after a few hours, no one will be able to break that record. (I do not think that he will be allowed to take it outside).

[Unmarked Package]

"If he chucks it [frisbee] during EVA, I think he's a cinch to shatter the time aloft record. Not to mention height and distance."

I was just joking on the Shuttle Launch Live Thread last Thursday that they should permit Christer to zing one toward Earth on an EVA, but I'm amazed to find out today that he is actually taking a frisbee with him on the mission and will be tossing it while inside (probably inside the ISS) to "stimulate interest of children for space exploration" in his words.

See this story from ABC News for more: How Long Will a Frisbee Fly in Space?

Excerpt:

But Fuglesang says he has no thought of taking it out on a spacewalk.

"That would probably be the last spaceflight that I do in that case," he says.

[Texas Eagle]

Will the Shuttle go or not. It all depends on the weather.

We can send a man to the moon...

[AdmSmith]

I do not think that it will be a launch today, maybe next week...

[ReignOfError]

"That would probably be the last spaceflight that I do in that case," he says.

If they coulf figure out a way for Alan Shepherd to hit a golf ball on the moon ...

[AntiKev]

We can send a man to the moon...

Not with currently available hardware we can't.

[sam_paine]

We can send a man to the moon...

Not with currently available hardware we can't.

Check that! Can too! Keeping him alive during that trip and the impact, er, landing.....that's n/a.

[KevinDavis]

Sunita Williams has entered the shuttle to take the right-side seat on the middeck. The spaceflight rookie is riding the shuttle to the International Space Station where she will join the Expedition 14 long-duration resident crew and replace departing crewmember Thomas Reiter. A European Space Agency astronaut, Reiter will return to Earth at the conclusion of Discovery's flight to complete a half-year in orbit. Williams will remain on the station until STS-118 next summer.

[AntiKev]

Fair point.

Crew is now boarding. MS5, CDR, PLT are all aboard.

[sam_paine]

On a serious note, do you have a link to the orbit calculator thingy they have (I think) that shows when STS (and other visible stuff) might be overhead for a given location?

[sissyjane]

Just catching up---What is launch time? Is it a go or no go, due to weather?