Space Shuttle Endeavour Heads To Space Station

RobGoldsmith writes "The STS-127 crew began its journey to the International Space Station at 6:03 p.m. EDT Wednesday when space shuttle Endeavour lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The shuttle crew will complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and deliver a new crew member, astronaut Tim Kopra, to the orbital outpost."

Foam fell off and struck the shuttle

[Mondrames]

This article [msn.com] says about 9 pieces fell off of the fuel tank and struck the shuttle.

Re:Space news

[CecilPL]

I'm watching the live replay at http://wechoosethemoon.org/ [wechoosethemoon.org]

Re:Seriously..., "Kibo"?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Get it right.

'kibou' (ãã¼ã) or åOEæoe, is something along the lines of 'hope', or 'aspiration'.

Re:Space news

[ls671]

The other day, I saw some scientist on TV saying that during mission Apollo 11, they installed mirrors on the moon and that he is still using them today by shooting LASER beams at them from the Earth in order to gather data from the reflection (moon distance etc. )

Now some Slashdot reader must have a powerful enough LASER beam around in order to shoot at the moon. Could this good Samaritan please test if those mirrors are really there and report back to us so we can close this case ?

Thanks in advance ;-))

The scientist said that none of the conspiracy theorists ever went to see him so he could show them the beam reflecting on those mirrors. I am wondering how many people are aware of those mirrors on the moon...

Re:Space news

[roundisfunny]

In case you care, the JFK Library is sponsoring a real-time online reenactment of the Apollo 11 mission - complete with actual radio transmissions. http://wechoosethemoon.org/ [wechoosethemoon.org] The URL is based on Kennedy's speech about how we choose the moon, not because it's easy, but because it's hard - or something like that.

Re:Space news

[Anonymous Coward]

Mythbusters found a laser big enough to do this. Video clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orvMZn8L1f0

Pretty cool to see.

[popoutman]

At about 11.22 local time here in Ireland, I got to see the Shuttle pass overhead just after the EFT seperation. Seeing both objects at 1700mph and a nice low altitude of 60 miles meant that the speed across the sky was really fast, and that the brightness of the shuttle was on the high side of magitude -5 or so. The orange of the EFT was clearly seen also.
The icing on the cake was seeing the ISS as well about 20 minutes later at about the same real speed but much slower across the sky given its distance.
I'm looking forwards to seeing the Shuttle play catch-up over the next few nights!

Re:And this is news?

[BJ_Covert_Action]

I work in the space industry and, honestly, it feels like an extremely isolated community. Aside from my coworkers and other companies' workers cheering on various satellite launches and successful space walks, it seems like nobody else gives a damn about what I consider to be one of the most exciting scientific endeavors in the history of this planet.

This is, however, why I love slashdot. I come on here one morning on a low-gumption thursday and find a tart complaining about the importance of smart phone communities only to see him doubly rebuked for being such a short-sighted self-obsessed fiend. Thanks to you and the others that have put that tool in his place for continuing to remind a young up and coming space-industry worker bee just how much intelligent people really do care about this realm of progress.

Cheers.