Shuttle Discovery docked with International Space Station

[JonathanBelles]

NASA is giving a near 100% chance of launch for tomorrow night for Space Shuttle Discovery. There is a 90% chance of favorable weather, and a slim chance of technical problems.

Launch at Canaveral at 9:20pm ET tomorrow (Wednesday) Night.

The latest briefing:

Commander Lee Archambault and Pilot Tony Antonelli took turns landing the shuttle training aircraft at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to practice landing space shuttle Discovery in a couple weeks. Flying over the space center, the astronauts would have had no trouble seeing their spacecraft on Launch Pad 39A where a small team of workers were going through their own procedures leading up to tomorrow night’s liftoff planned for 9:20 p.m. EDT.

The weather forecast calls for a 90 percent chance of acceptable conditions and NASA Test Director Steve Payne reported no technical concerns with the spacecraft.

“We have no real concerns and we are ready for the exciting mission that lies ahead of us,” Payne said.

This one is an exciting one for me, since I will very likely be able to see it!

Official Countdown at T-12:34:00

[JonathanBelles]

Update from just a bit ago:


Mission managers met at 11:15 a.m. EDT and gave a "go" to fuel Discovery's external tank. The operation is scheduled to begin at 11:55.a.m. The updated weather forecast calls for a 95 percent chance that weather will not interfere with the 9:20 p.m. EDT launch of space shuttle Discovery. Overall, weather is favorable for launch with only a very slight chance of a low cloud ceiling. In the unlikely event of an abort landing, weather is favorable at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Zaragoza and Moron in Spain, and Istres, France. The forecast is 90 percent "go" for a 24-hour launch delay and 80 percent "go" for a 48-hour delay.

[JonathanBelles]

The launch blog will become active on NASA.gov at 4p EDT today.

[JonathanBelles]

Space shuttle Discovery's external tank is filling up with more than 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, a three hour process.

via Twitter.

[HURAKAN]

Space shuttle launch to light up America's Eastern seaboard: how to watch

A nearly-full moon Tuesday night spotlighted space shuttle Discovery, scheduled to lift off at 9:20 p.m. EDT tonight on a mission to the space station. Sky watchers all along the Eastern coast will have a rare chance to watch Discovery and the STS-119 crew roar into space against a night sky.

Discovery will appear low in the sky, at about 5 to 15 degrees above the horizon, depending on your viewing point. It will be moving fast, streaking across 90 degrees of azimuth in less than a minute. If your weather is good, you might be able to catch the major milestones in the flight.

Those key events include solid rocket booster (SRB) separation and ejection and the separation of the external tank. The latter will occur about 430 miles southeast of New York City at eight minutes and 23 seconds after launch.

Get your cameras ready! If you get a good picture or video of the launch from your hometown, email me at spacenewsexaminer@hotmail.com I'll be publishing reader photos and experiences.

Onboard Discovery: Commander Lee Archambault, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata. They're scheduled to leave Kennedy Space Center's Operations & Checkout (O&C) Building at 5:30 p.m. as they head to the launch pad.

The STS-119 crew has a busy schedule ahead, including four spacewalks. They're carrying up the final truss segment that will complete the International Space Station's backbone, along with the final set of solar arrays.

The solar arrays provide power to the space station. The extra power not only will support science experiments, but also provide more juice when the population of the space station increases to six from three.

The Discovery crew and Expedition 18 members already onboard the space station will perform repair work on the pesky recycler designed to convert urine to usuable water. When Discovery comes home, they'll bring along astronaut Sandy Magnus, who flew to the station in November on Space Shuttle Endeavour on the STS-126 mission. Wakata will remain aboard the space station.

Engineers and pad workers overcame a troubling problem with main propulsion system vvalves that caused a delay of several weeks. Extensive additional testing convinced wary managers that Discovery was ready to fly after a slightly-less-used set of valves was installed on the launch pad.

You can watch the launch live on NASA TV, Spacevidcast (where there's always a lively chat room of space fans to share the experience with), at Spaceflight Now (with Miles O'Brien, David Waters & former astronaut Leroy Chiao), or KSC hometown newspaper Florida Today. I'm currently battling pneumonia, so I'm not sure if I'll watch on my TV on the NASA Channel or online (or both). If I'm up to it, you can find me at Spacevidcast chatting with Cariann and Ben Higginbotham and other space fans.

Image credit/NASA, Bill Ingalls

[cycloneye]

The launch was going to take place at 9:20 PM EDT tonight.Its the second time the launch of Discovery is posponed as it was supposed to launch last month.


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Discovery will not launch Wednesday, due to a fuel leak discovered in its external tank. Ground crews began the process of draining the tank.

"We expect it's going to lead to a scrub," NASA spokesman Mike Curie said of the hydrogen fuel leak. NASA confirmed the postponement minutes later.

Ground crews detected a leak on the liquid hydrogen part of the space shuttle Discovery's fuel tank in an area called the Ground Umbilical Plate.

Discovery and her seven crew members were scheduled to begin a two-week construction flight to the international space station.

Packed aboard the spacecraft is a new set of solar panels to be installed on the station, as well as the final stretch of the ISS's massive backbone-like girder. Discovery is also due to deliver even more precious cargo: Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who is to become his nation's first long-duration spaceflier when he joins the station's Expedition 18 crew as a flight engineer for a six-month stay.

Mission managers have said they can make another attempt to launch anytime up until March 16, though pushing the liftoff that late would mean cutting a few days off the planned 14-day flight. After that time, the postponement would have to be lengthened significantly.

This mission has been delayed for nearly a month because of concerns over suspect fuel control valves in the shuttle's main engines. During the last shuttle launch, Endeavour's November 2008 liftoff, a valve on that orbiter cracked, though it did not affect the flight.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29634469/

[tropicana]

its better that they dont rush to meet the March 16 deadline...and postpone it to a later date, and get the fuel leak problem sorted out.
But im sure they know that already.

-justin-

[JonathanBelles]

NASA officials scrubbed Wednesday’s attempt at 2:37 EDT to launch space shuttle Discovery after a slight leak was detected in a gaseous hydrogen (GH2) vent line. The vent line is at the intertank region of the external tank and is the overboard vent to the pad and the flare stack where the vented hydrogen is burned off. The launch team is resetting to preserve the option of attempting a Thursday night liftoff at 8:54 p.m. EDT depending on what repairs are needed and what managers decide. The Mission Management Team is meeting at 5 p.m. today to discuss the issue.

[JonathanBelles]

I already have a topic in Astronomy and Geology.

[lurkey]

I already have a topic in Astronomy and Geology.

viewtopic.php?f=67&t=104857

[cycloneye]

Fact,I merged my topic with yours as I moved it from off-topics forum.

[O Town]

Its a good thing I saw the topic before it was moved, or I would have started another one. I never come over to Astronomy and Geology. I guess you moved it right as I hit submit, lol.

Oh well, so much for the plan to watch a night launch tonight.
They have rescheduled for tomorrow night at 8:54, I hate to even plan on going
Im afraid they will scrub again. Better safe than sorry I hear that this problem was
the same thing that caused the Challenger accident.

http://www.cfnews13.com/Space/DestinationSpace/2009/3/11/countdown_to_discovery_liftoff.html

[cycloneye]

The new date for the launch is now on Sunday evening.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA rescheduled the launch of space shuttle Discovery for Sunday after a fuel leak scuttled its first launch attempt on Wednesday, officials said.

Liftoff is set for 7:43 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The purpose of the flight -- the first of five planned for this year -- is to deliver a final set of solar power panels to the International Space Station and transport Japan's first astronaut to serve as a member of the live-aboard station crew.

Wednesday's launch attempt was called off while the shuttle was being filled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for the ride to orbit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_space_shuttle

[RL3AO]

Usually the launches get scrubbed for stuff like faulty sensors, but when its for fuel leaks, it makes the acutual launch going to be a tad more nervewracking.

[JonathanBelles]

Bleh, I wanted a night launch!

[JonathanBelles]

At noon, the three-hour external tank fueling operation was about 50 percent complete. The operation is proceeding uneventfully. The liquid hydrogen tank will enter the "topping" mode at about 12:35 p.m. EDT. It was during the "topping" phase that a leak was encountered during Wednesday's launch attempt.

There is a chance for isolated showers developing this afternoon, but they should dissipate before the 7:43 p.m. liftoff of Discovery. The weather forecast continues to be 80 percent "go," with just a slight chance of a low cloud ceiling at the time of launch.


______
Many more clouds than on Wednesday, so I probably wont be able to see the launch.

[JonathanBelles]

This just up on Twitter from NASA: The external tank's liquid hydrogen section has reached the point where a leak was detected Wednesday - there is no leak apparent today.

[cycloneye]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Aiming for a Sunday evening launch, NASA began fueling space shuttle Discovery again in hopes repairs took care of a dangerous leak.

Liftoff was set for 7:43 p.m., provided there were no more hydrogen leaks. Good weather was forecast.

During the first launch attempt Wednesday, hydrogen gas spewed into the air from a vent line connected to Discovery's external fuel tank. NASA replaced all the hookups, but could find nothing broken. Officials promised to halt the countdown again if the problem recurs.

Hydrogen gas valves inside Discovery already had forced a one-month delay.

NASA has until Tuesday to send Discovery and a crew of seven to the international space station. The shuttle needs to deliver one last set of solar wings and some critical parts for the space station's water-recycling system.

If Discovery isn't flying by then, it will have to get in line behind a Russian Soyuz rocket that's set to blast off March 26 with a fresh space station crew. That would bump the shuttle launch into April.

Because of the four-day leak delay, NASA had to shorten Discovery's flight by a day and cut out a spacewalk. Even more reductions will be needed if the launch slips to Monday or Tuesday, increasing the pressure for a Sunday departure.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090315/ap_ ... ce_shuttle

[JonathanBelles]

The fuel tank has been 100% filled, and they have gotten past the problem from before. The launch blog is now active!

[JonathanBelles]

PROBLEM!

The launch team is monitoring a drop in helium pressure a liquid hydrogen umbilical disconnect. Launch Director Mike Leinbach has sent a "red team" of specially trained personnel to the pad to make manual adjustments in order to increase the pressure.