posted 12-09-2006 09:35 AM               

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Under a partly cloudy sky, Space Shuttle Discovery is ready for launch of mission STS-116 from Launch Pad 39B. The rotating service structure rolled back at approximately 9:30 a.m. this morning to enable launch. No technical issues are being worked at this time.

The launch countdown will resume around 11 a.m. at the T-6 hour and holding mark. Thursday's poor weather conditions spoiled the last attempt at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA officials have set the next launch attempt for tonight at 8:47 p.m. EST. Shuttle weather forecasters expect the cold front to still be over Florida for Saturday's launch, limiting chances for liftoff to 30 percent.

The STS-116 mission is the 33rd for Discovery and the 117th space shuttle flight. During the 12-day mission, the crew will continue construction on the International Space Station, rewiring the orbiting laboratory and adding a segment to its integrated truss structure.

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posted 12-09-2006 10:33 AM               

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The launch team is still working its way through a series of tasks that must be completed before Discovery's orange external tank can be loaded with 500,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen. This process, called "tanking," takes about three hours to finish. Once completed, propellant levels in the tank will be continuously "topped off" during the remainder of today's countdown. If tanking has not started by 12:30 p.m. today, the Mission Management Team will meet and decide whether to make another attempt on Sunday or delay launch further.

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posted 12-09-2006 04:47 PM               

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The STS-116 crew members are taking their seats inside Space Shuttle Discovery as the vehicle awaits liftoff at 8:47 p.m. EST. Aided by the Closeout Crew, Commander Mark Polansky is the first astronaut to enter the ship. The remaining six astronauts will then climb into the orbiter one at a time, taking their launch positions on the flight- and mid-decks. Once in place, the crew will begin powering up Discovery's systems and getting the ship ready for launch.

Launch managers report no technical issues with the launch pad or space shuttle are being worked on at this point as the countdown marches on.

A cold front continues to dominate weather across Kennedy Space Center, producing partly sunny skies along with variable and gusty winds. The current chance for liftoff has recently been upgraded to 40 percent and continues to trend favorably offering further potential for improvement.

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posted 12-09-2006 05:43 PM               

The Closeout Crew has reported that the crew module is closed, latched and pressurized, and cabin leak checks have verified the integrity of the cabin door seal. With a little more than two hours remaining before liftoff, the astronaut crew is safely sealed inside Space Shuttle Discovery, awaiting liftoff at 8:47 p.m.

posted 12-09-2006 08:31 PM               

Very cool! Now I can say I've finally seen a shuttle launch!

posted 12-09-2006 09:04 PM               

Question: Can someone tell me what the large flame coming out of a chimney of some sort not far from the shuttle is? I mean, it was a BIG flame.

posted 12-09-2006 09:10 PM               

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Originally posted by AstronautBrian:
Question: Can someone tell me what the large flame coming out of a chimney of some sort not far from the shuttle is? I mean, it was a BIG flame.

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In addition to the bright lights at the launch pad, a bright orange flame can sometimes be seen inside the pad perimeter. This is actually a safety feature: The flame burns away excess hydrogen in the area so it doesn't become a toxic hazard.

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posted 12-09-2006 09:28 PM               

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Shuttle Discovery lit up the night sky as it soared to orbit with the STS-116 crew, the shuttle's first night launch since 2002. The mission's seven astronauts will reconfigure electrical power and cooling systems, as well as deliver supplies to the space station.

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posted 12-09-2006 10:05 PM               

It was a picture perfect night launch. I did not realize you could see it from so far away.

posted 12-10-2006 04:42 AM               

I followed NASA TV on my comouter and watched the launch live on TV on CNN.
What I, however, noticed was that, here in the Netherlands, the transmission of the events from NASA TV into the Internet was delayed for about 10 seconds as opposed to CNN. What could be the reason for that ?

posted 12-10-2006 05:48 AM               

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Originally posted by Kirsten:
however, noticed was that, here in the Netherlands, the transmission of the events from NASA TV into the Internet was delayed for about 10 seconds as opposed to CNN. What could be the reason for that ?

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posted 12-10-2006 07:35 AM               

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Originally posted by Kirsten:
What could be the reason for that?

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Lag refers to the time taken for a packet of data from the sending application to the receiving application. This includes both transit time over the network, and computer processing time at both the source and destination computers.

Whilst in the strictest sense every packet experiences lag, the term lag is implied to refer to noticeable delays to the user caused as a result of extended or unexpected delay. As the time taken for a packet to travel from a server in Europe to a client nearby in the same region is likely to differ from a trip from Europe to the Americas or Asia, it is possible that two users may experience connections to the same server with a different extent of network lag.

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posted 12-10-2006 09:29 AM               

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Essentially, the NASA TV stream was delayed because NASA's servers needed to encode the data, it then needed to make its way to you and then your computer needed to decode the data, creating a multi-second delay.

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Chris.

posted 12-11-2006 12:20 PM               

We were then transported by bus out to the Saturn V building; the Banana River viewing area. The first night launch scrub was unfortunate but it was a thrill to be there, the energy, the excitement filled the air and it was very crowded (they said there was 73 buses of 55 people per bus which is about 4000 folks strong). While dining, we talked to a couple who told of his working for NASA since the Gemini days. He is a very interesting man. Also, we talked to a lady who was a very close friend (for 40 years) of Joan Higginbotham's mom and that was an informative conversation as well. I watched as our GII Space Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) shot approaches during the last ten minutes of the count . You could see it fly into the low level clouds over the Banana River and I felt that this would be a show stopper. When they held the count and waited for one more STA approach we watched it come in and could see the lights until it was once again over the Banana river where the lights faded into the low clouds and so went our hopes of a launch that night.

Friday we spent our time viewing the two Imax movies (one can never see those too many times).

Now that it has launched and looking back it was great to get to do it again on Saturday. I would say that there was only half as many folks there but the excitement was as great or more than Thursday's attempt. I believe that the media were such nay sayers for a successful launch that it drove people away. The only good information I could get was with Robert and the cS site, GREAT JOB ROBERT! Pictures or video can not describe the real life event; the sound, the intense light, the feeling of being part of the actual event only comes from being there! I have attached the one photo I took of the actual launch. I just pointed the camera in the sky, took it, and went back to viewing it live; no sense watching the launch through the view finder. I will leave that up to the professionals (thanks again Robert!). It was a night that will never been forgotten. Here is a photo of pad 39B during the countdown and a couple of Al Worden (check out the 3D glasses).