STS-119 Finally Launches Into Space 83
Iddo Genuth writes "After several delays, including twice over the past week, the space shuttle Discovery has finally been launched into space. The spacecraft took off at precisely 7:43 p.m. EDT, embarking on the STS-119 mission, which will provide the International Space Station with the fourth and final set of solar arrays — and which will make the ISS brighter than Venus. The shuttle will also deliver to the ISS its newest crew member, Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, who will replace flight engineer Sandra Magnus at the station."
Re:Good Luck Boys (Score:5, Informative)
This site looks like just what you want:
http://www.heavens-above.com/ [heavens-above.com]
Re:Fly-over times (Score:5, Informative)
NASA, surprise, surprise.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/ [nasa.gov]
Re:Fly-over times (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Good Luck Boys (Score:5, Informative)
I like http://www.n2yo.com/?s=25544 [n2yo.com]
http://www.n2yo.com/?s=99999 [n2yo.com]
and http://www.n2yo.com/passes/?s=33442&tz=GMT-05:00 [n2yo.com] is fun/interesting as well.
It's fun to have all three up at once, Discovery is right over my head now...
Re:Fly-over times (Score:3, Informative)
I like http://www.n2yo.com/?s=25544 [n2yo.com] [n2yo.com]
http://www.n2yo.com/?s=99999 [n2yo.com] [n2yo.com]
and http://www.n2yo.com/passes/?s=33442&tz=GMT-05:00 [n2yo.com] [n2yo.com] is fun/interesting as well.
It's fun to have all three up at once, Discovery is right over my head now...
Re:Good Luck Boys (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Good Luck Boys (Score:1, Informative)
NASA's satellite sighting page is also very good:
http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/
Re:Good Luck Boys (Score:4, Informative)
It's sitting in the Smithsonian Annex at Dulles on public display.
The reason they built Endeavour is because Enterprise lacked a number of improvements to the flight design made in building Columbia and the other shuttles. Retrofitting Enterprise would have been more expensive than building Endeavour was.
Re:Good Luck Boys (Score:3, Informative)
Not to mention because Enterprise was a prototype which was never intended to fly in space, it is way over built. As such, it is the heaviest shuttle ever created. Because of its weight it could have barely achieved LEO, making it unable to service many of the missions to which the other shuttles currently service.
In short, making Enterprise space-ready means paying more for less capability than what is achieved with Endeavour.
Re:Precision Problem? (Score:2, Informative)
Actually, compared to the Saturn V, the shuttle stack seems to jump off the pad.
It doesn't seem to... it does. The shuttle main engines are ignited 6-7 seconds before "0" or launch because they take that long to work up to their working thrust. If you ever see a close up of the orbiter during the final ten seconds, you'll see it rock a little from a slightly leaned-back angle to straight vertical as this happens.
The solid rocket boosters are bolted to the platform to prevent the shuttle stack from launching (or toppling) while that's happening. Imagine a car -- since this is /. -- spinning its tires in place before dropping the brake. That's what's happening. When the countdown hits 0, the SRBs have been ignited as well, and the shuttle is either going to be released or tear itself free. That's why those bolts are explosive. They pop off and the shuttle is gone.
The shuttle stack doesn't seem to leap off the pad, it really, really does.