Full Version: Shuttle launch this Thursday.
Just a reminder that we head back into space this Wednesday at 3:51 p.m. Keep your fingers crossed for a safe journey for the Discovery and her crew.
Any idea why the launch at such an odd time?
It all has to do with "windows" hun.
If you have Direct tv,channel 376 is the NASA channel.Lots of cool stuff goes on there.
It's about time in my opinion.
If you have Direct tv,channel 376 is the NASA channel.Lots of cool stuff goes on there.
It's about time in my opinion.
QUOTE (WVDragonlady @ Jul 11 2005, 05:16 PM)
It all has to do with "windows" hun.
If you have Direct tv,channel 376 is the NASA channel.Lots of cool stuff goes on there.
It's about time in my opinion.
If you have Direct tv,channel 376 is the NASA channel.Lots of cool stuff goes on there.
It's about time in my opinion.
And if you have HDNet, the hi-def channel owned by Mark Cuban, they are televising the launch in high definition and digital surround sound.
QUOTE
It all has to do with "windows" hun.
If you have Direct tv,channel 376 is the NASA channel.Lots of cool stuff goes on there.
It's about time in my opinion.
If you have Direct tv,channel 376 is the NASA channel.Lots of cool stuff goes on there.
It's about time in my opinion.
That's right, I forgot about the whole window thing. I'll be at work, so it doesn't matter that's its on tv. I'll have to record it.
They just canceled the launch due to a faulty fuel sensor. P00P!
Better safe than sorry.
Better safe than sorry.
Indeed, we need to be sure things are good before we start wasting millions of dollars again. 
Waste of money? As opposed to what?
On building new Shuttles.
Cool. 
I thought I was about to get jumped again by the anti-space program folks like when we had a thread about going to the moon again.
I thought I was about to get jumped again by the anti-space program folks like when we had a thread about going to the moon again.
I have my issues with the space program, but it is a needed program.
NASA isn't always the most efficient government agency is it? 
QUOTE
NASA looking to Tuesday for shuttle launch
Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 10:39 a.m. Tuesday, and mission managers said all seems well -- for now. The countdown began at noon Saturday.
Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 10:39 a.m. Tuesday, and mission managers said all seems well -- for now. The countdown began at noon Saturday.
I hope that all goes well!
Lucky. And ticked-off that NASA spent over a billion and did not fix the problem. 
Has anyone heard that one of the primary reasons there is a problem in the first place with foam falling off and damaging the heat-resistant tiles is because NASA switched to a more environmentally CFC free foam? They probably coulda fixed the problem for real for 1% of that cost if they used the old-type foam and planted some trees or something to pacify the environmentalists.
Has anyone heard that one of the primary reasons there is a problem in the first place with foam falling off and damaging the heat-resistant tiles is because NASA switched to a more environmentally CFC free foam? They probably coulda fixed the problem for real for 1% of that cost if they used the old-type foam and planted some trees or something to pacify the environmentalists.
But the problem is much worse with the "new" foam.
As Steven Milloy reports, NASA could have sought an exemption. Freon, after all, is inert and nontoxic, and its connection to ozone depletion is tenuous at best. However, having been burned by the EPA once before (as I will point out), NASA succumbed to what Milloy calls "PC foam." He writes, "PC foam was an immediate problem. The first mission with PC foam resulted in 11 times more damaged thermal tiles on Columbia than the previous mission with Freon-based foam."[i]
Furthermore, the damage was obvious—and quite severe. Milloy writes that following the 1997 Columbia mission, "more than 100 tiles were damaged beyond repair, well over the normal count of 40."
As Steven Milloy reports, NASA could have sought an exemption. Freon, after all, is inert and nontoxic, and its connection to ozone depletion is tenuous at best. However, having been burned by the EPA once before (as I will point out), NASA succumbed to what Milloy calls "PC foam." He writes, "PC foam was an immediate problem. The first mission with PC foam resulted in 11 times more damaged thermal tiles on Columbia than the previous mission with Freon-based foam."[i]
Furthermore, the damage was obvious—and quite severe. Milloy writes that following the 1997 Columbia mission, "more than 100 tiles were damaged beyond repair, well over the normal count of 40."
QUOTE
Milloy writes that following the 1997 Columbia mission, "more than 100 tiles were damaged beyond repair, well over the normal count of 40."
After finding this out why didn't they switch back?Better to use the enviromentally unfriendly foam than to waste human life. I just hope they can come to some sort of definative conclusion before they send these people for re-entry.
QUOTE
Post-flight inspections after previous shuttle missions show an average of 150 dings in thermal protection tiles during launch and re-entry, Hale said. So far, 26 sites have been identified on Discovery.
Poulos said photography of the underbelly of Discovery did show slight damage to a tile near the doors that cover the nose landing gear, which may be investigated further. The area of damage is less than one-half inch.
Footage of the launch showed what appeared to be a piece of tile flying off the orbiter from the same area, around the time it separated from the external fuel tank.
Poulos also said a thermal blanket under one of the orbiter's windows appears to have been slightly damaged, which may need to be further evaluated.
Poulos said photography of the underbelly of Discovery did show slight damage to a tile near the doors that cover the nose landing gear, which may be investigated further. The area of damage is less than one-half inch.
Footage of the launch showed what appeared to be a piece of tile flying off the orbiter from the same area, around the time it separated from the external fuel tank.
Poulos also said a thermal blanket under one of the orbiter's windows appears to have been slightly damaged, which may need to be further evaluated.
Hopefully the damage is only "normal" and not severe.
After shuttle repair, NASA weighs one more fix
Space Shuttle Discovery
QUOTE
Even as they celebrated spacewalker Stephen Robinson's feat, NASA managers weighed whether to attempt yet another repair job, this time involving a ripped and puffed-up thermal blanket just beneath commander Eileen Collins' cockpit window. The blanket — a quilted fabric covering pillowlike stuffing — was most likely ripped open by launch debris and puffed up with air. Hale said engineers determined that if the ripped section came apart during re-entry, the biggest piece of debris would weigh less than an ounce. However, even tiny bits would pack "a lot of energy" if they were to hit the shuttle at supersonic speed, he said. "Worst-case, we could do some structural damage, and that's obviously not something that we want to incur," Hale said.
Space Shuttle Discovery
Well, they have landing windows set for 5:07 a.m., 6:43 a.m., and 8:12 a.m. (this one's the backup site in CA) Tuesday morning. I may get up and watch this one live because, if something goes wrong, this will the last shuttle flight ever. 
[fingers crossed they fixed it correctly]
[fingers crossed they fixed it correctly]
QUOTE
08/08/05 5:15 a.m. - Aboard Discovery, Commander Eileen Collins and her six crewmates are backing out of deorbit preparations and refocusing their efforts on tomorrow's landing opportunities. At Kennedy Space Center, there are opportunities at 5:07 a.m. and 6:43 a.m.; at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., at 8:12 a.m. and 9:47 a.m.; and at the landing facility at White Sands, New Mexico at 6:39 a.m. and 8:13 a.m.
Below is a link to the NASA Landing information site. Once the landing is within so many hours, there are text updates here, about every 10-15 mins updating Discovery's progress. I'm going to try to stay up as well and catch the landing. Hope all goes well for NASA and the crew.
Nasa: Space Shuttle Discovery landing coverage
Please post, if anyone has a better coverage site, or something with a live video stream of the landing. Thanks!
Boe, I don't know of anything on the net, but if you have directv, try the NASA channel, 376. I would imagine it would be carried live on the networks as well.
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