Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch Live Thread (7/12/09 7:13 p.m. EDT)

SPACE.com ^ | July 12, 2009 | Clara Moskowitz

[John W]

Shuttle Endeavour "Go" For Launch Today

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Endeavour is "Go" to launch today, NASA said, after ground crews found no signs of damage from a lightning strike on Friday.

The crews completed all the necessary check outs of the vehicle's critical systems and cleared the shuttle for lift off this morning around 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT). Endeavour is now slated to blast off this evening at 7:13 p.m. EDT (2313 GMT) from Launch Pad 39A here at Kennedy Space Center.

[TheRobb7]

I wonder where the earthquake is gonna be.

(how many will get the movie reference ?)

Hint: Mel Gibson

[don-o]

ping

Kevin, I assume you will be putting up the traditional live thread for the launch? Hope so.

[John W]

I put this up as he hasn’t posted since Friday, thought he might be out for the weekend.

[John W]

[John W]

Conspiracy Theory. Guess my movie poster was from an improper source as it disappeared with the traditional total lack of explanation.

[don-o]

That’s cool. Thanks. Shuttle launch (and landing) threads are some of my favorites. I was online for the Columbia disaster and I always try to be on board.

[KevinDavis]

This is going to be the live thread...

[KevinDavis]

The freighter moved within approximately 33 feet of the station and has begun the backaway sequence.

[KevinDavis]

Progress has completed its engine burns to fly away from the International Space Station following today’s rendezvous test. The small cargo-delivery spacecraft, which delivered equipment, fuel and food to the station over the past couple of months, will be deorbited on Monday.

[KevinDavis]

For those keeping score at home, the fueling of space shuttle Endeavour officially began at 9:48 a.m. and concluded at 12:48 p.m. EDT, precisely on-time, NASA says.

[KevinDavis]

The AstroVan is passing the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building where Endeavour was attached to its external tank and solid rocket boosters and the adjacent Launch Control Center.

The Press Site is located across the street, and reporters went outside to watch at the passing convoy. This is a launch day tradition to say farewell and good luck to the astronaut crews

[KevinDavis]

Check out Spaceflight Now

[KevinDavis]

Endeavour’s crew has arrived at launch pad 39A. The AstroVan came to a stop on the pad surface near the Fixed Service Structure tower elevator that will take the seven-man crew to the 195-foot level to begin boarding the shuttle.

[KevinDavis]

Formal approval from the Firing Room has been given for the astronauts to start ingressing the orbiter.

[KevinDavis]

Shuttle commander Mark Polansky, a 53-year-old aviator born in New Jersey, leads this voyage of Endeavour. It will be his third spaceflight, having been a pilot and a commander on two previous construction missions to the space station in 2001 and 2006.

He is the first astronaut to board the shuttle this afternoon, taking the forward-left seat on the flight deck.

[KevinDavis]

Tim Kopra, the station-bound astronaut set to join the Expedition 20 crew living aboard the outpost, serves as Endeavour's mission specialist No. 5 for the launch. The 45-year-old from Austin, Texas is a colonel in the U.S. Army. Once at the space station, he will exchange places with Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who then will return to Earth on the shuttle to conclude three-and-a-half months in space.

Kopra just crawled through Endeavour's hatch to take the right-hand seat on the middeck.

[KevinDavis]

Doug Hurley, a 42-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps born in New York, will be Endeavour's pilot. He has over 3,200 hours in more than 20 different kinds of aircraft, including being the first ever Marine pilot to fly the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet.

This spaceflight rookie is making his way to the flight deck's front-right seat right now.

[George from New England]

Another day with a very high barometer reading. Very low lightning strike counts for the area for this time of year too.

Looks good.

[KevinDavis]

Tom Marshburn, a 48-year-old former emergency doctor and NASA flight surgeon born in North Carolina, is mission specialist No. 3 and another of the spacewalkers during Endeavour's trip to the station.

He will ride into space for the first time of his career in the middeck's left seat.