STS 124 DISCOVERY LAUNCH DAY UPDATES

[Chipstone306]

Here we go! Good Luck Discovery.

 

[Chupacabra]

Roll Back of the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) is underway.

Looking beautiful Discovery!

EDIT: I love how they waited for sunset to begin. The scene was glorious.

 

[Chipstone306]

Launch Day Dawns for Discovery

Image above: One of the shuttle training aircraft, or STA, takes off from the runway at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. Handling the controls is the commander of the STS-124 mission, Mark Kelly. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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May 31
The loading of space shuttle Discovery's external tank with 500,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen began at 7:38 a.m. EDT, and the "topping off" of the tank's propellants will continue until launch time. All systems onboard Discovery are functioning normally.

The weather is looking promising for launch day, according to Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters. Isolated coastal showers may be in the area during the morning hours, but a sea breeze will develop in the afternoon, clearing the coast and causing any showers to move inland. There is an 80 percent chance of favorable weather at launch time.

This mission will carry the largest payload so far to the station and includes three spacewalks. It is the second of three missions that will launch components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. The crew will install Kibo's large Japanese Pressurized Module and Kibo's robotic arm system. Discovery also will deliver new station crew member Greg Chamitoff and bring back Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who will end a three-month stay aboard the outpost.

 

[Chipstone306]

Live countdown coverage will begin at noon EDT on May 31, 2008 as space shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven astronauts prepare to lift off on mission STS-124 to the International Space Station.

 

[Chipstone306]

FACTS & FIGURES​

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STS-124 is the 123rd space shuttle flight, the 26th flight to the station, the 35th flight for Discovery and
the third flight in 2008.​

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The Kibo laboratory—which means “hope” in Japanese—s the country’s major contribution to the station
and will enhance the research capabilities of the space station.​

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The JPM will be the largest habitable module on the space station and is equipped with its own airlock
and robotic arm for external experiments.​

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The final components of Kibo will be assembled in space on shuttle mission STS-127.​

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The RMS main arm can handle up to 14,000 pounds of hardware. The small fine arm, when attached
to the main arm, handles more delicate operations. Each arm has six joints that mimic the movements
of a human arm.​

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The JPM is 36.7 feet long and 14.4 feet in diameter, about the size of a large tour bus.​

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The main arm measures 32.5 feet long, and the small fine arm measures 6.2 feet.​

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Kibo experiments and systems are operated from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's
control center called the Space Station Integration and Promotion Center, just north of Tokyo.​

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Experiments in Kibo focus on space medicine, biology, Earth observations, material production, biotechnology
and communications research.​

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To help prevent the glove cuts seen in recent missions from recurring, both spacewalkers will wear
gloves with special patches on the thumb and index finger for the first time. The patches are made of
the same protective vectran material already used in the palm of the gloves, but in a much tighter​

weave. In this form, the fabric is called TurtleSkin. It is up to four times more resistant to damage

 

[Woo482]

Whats the launch time in GMT? The bbc website said it launches at 21:02 GMT
Is that correct?

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Don't know about GMT, but it is scheduled for 17:52 (5:52 p.m.) EDT.

 

[Woo482]

ok I just looked at the nasa Tv and its says 21:02 gmt

 

[Matt]

Don't know about GMT, but it is scheduled for 17:52 (5:52 p.m.) EDT.

5:02 p.m. EDT

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Why'd they move it back an hour? Yesterday NASA was saying that it was 5:52 EDT.

 

[Whatu]

Crew is entering the spacecraft now. Good luck Discovery!

 

[pete.dakota]

The crew is at the pad, ingress in progress.

 

[silent_protagonist]

Why'd they move it back an hour? Yesterday NASA was saying that it was 5:52 EDT.

It was probably a typo yesterday. According to http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html the laumch time is 5:02 p.m. EDT (also note the countdown clock).

BTW EDT is GMT-4, so 21:02 GMT should be correct. (EDIT: TLA's FTW)

EDIT2: I wondered at the time why STS-123 left its OBSS behind. Now I know...it was so that STS-124 could use it since the OBSS won't fit into the bay with Kibo.

 

[Chipstone306]

Astronauts Board Discovery for Launch

Image above: STS-124 Commander Mark Kelly takes his seat in the cockpit of space shuttle Discovery as launch preparations continue toward a 5:02 p.m. EDT lifoff. Kelly was the first of the seven astronauts to get strapped in for launch. Photo credit: NASA TV
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May 31
1:40 p.m. EDT
Commander Mark Kelly crawled inside space shuttle Discovery and climbed up to his seat on the left side of the cockpit as the STS-124 crew began taking their places for launch. It will take a little while for the six men and one woman to get into place before the hatch is closed and locked for liftoff. Because Discovery is standing with its nose straight up, the astronauts and the technicians helping them have to be extra careful about where they step, though there are protective covers in place around critical systems.

Launch is scheduled for 5:02 p.m. EDT and there are no reported technical issues or weather concerns at the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 

[pete.dakota]

It looks as though they're having some issues with the cabin pressurisation. Taking longer than usual. It seems to be nomial now, though. No major issues currently in work.

Also, what NASA TV feeds are you guys using? The Yahoo 1mbit feed I have is great quality, but I think it's around 2 minutes behind "live".

 

[silent_protagonist]

It looks as though they're having some issues with the cabin pressurisation. Taking longer than usual. It seems to be nomial now, though. No major issues currently in work.

Also, what NASA TV feeds are you guys using? The Yahoo 1mbit feed I have is great quality, but I think it's around 2 minutes behind "live".

Space Multimedia's feed seems to have pretty good quality (about in between NASA's feed and the link you posted) and only a few seconds of lag.

 

[pete.dakota]

White room close-out in work.

Space Multimedia's feed seems to have pretty good quality (about in between NASA's feed and the link you posted) and only a few seconds of lag.

Hm. The yahoo feed actually seems to be around 5 seconds ahead of that one.

 

[silent_protagonist]

White room close-out in work.



Hm. The yahoo feed actually seems to be around 5 seconds ahead of that one.

Lol, well video streaming is an imprecise science. It may have to do with where the servers are, since we're on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

 

[pete.dakota]

Perhaps, yeah. The yahoo feed is just over 1 minute behind the clock on the NASA site. I think I can live with that

 

[astrosammy]

I'm watching the 300k stream.
(This f stupid Deutsche Telekom thinks that no fast connection is needed in this "very, very remote area" here :chair: . Even my grandparents in Norway have a faster connention.)