Updates STS-133 Updates

[HarvesteR]

Anyone else noticed they're landing on Yuri Gagarin's birthday?

Which conveniently, is also my birthday. :thumbup: (and Moach's, since we're twins and all that)

Well, Discovery is on Orbit 201 now, one away from it's final deorbit burn and reentry...

It's always been my favorite shuttle too... For no particular reason... but since I was little I've always liked Discovery better than all others. I remember one day I got a model shuttle toy, and with it came stickers with all the names of every shuttle... I chose Discovery. I was 7... perhaps that's why I always liked it better... I don't know...

I don't have a pic of the model to show... maybe Moach can find it (he lives a few 5k miles closer to home than me :lol: )

Cheers

 

[diogom]

Well, in that case, happy birthday.
I still can't believe they're retiring the Shuttles, and I only follow spaceflight for 2-3 years! I don't imagine those who have seen them fly since the 80's.
At least you guy's in the USA will be able to see them in museums. I just learned a few days ago that some Portuguese dudes, along with others mounted an exhibit containing several NASA stuff, including some real spacecrafts. The ridiculous is that it will travel across Europe, but, as always, Portugal is an exception :thumbsdown:.

 

[N_Molson]

I just learned a few days ago that some Portuguese dudes, along with others mounted an exhibit containing several NASA stuff, including some real spacecrafts.

Do you have a web link about this ? Looks very interesting

 

[diogom]

Sorry, but I'm affraid I don't have the link. I saw it on a news website, on wich they disappear after some time, but I'll look for it.

 

[N_Molson]

Discovery begins [its] her last orbit

 

[diogom]

N_Molson, I found it, here's the link, but it's all in Portuguese, I'll translate it: http://www.dn.pt/inicio/ciencia/interior.aspx?content_id=1788719

"Portuguese people mount exhibit of NASA's 50 years"
"(WITH VIDEO) A group of Portuguese people is in the origin of an exhibit of the 50 years of the North-American space agency, NASA, wich is patented until November in Sweden and that will visit several European countries for the next 6 years."
""It's an exhibit wich gathers all of NASA's history, and not only, and where the visitors enter it like if they were entering a rocket" explained to Lusa José Poeiras, the exhibit's producer, organized by the Dutch company John Nurminem Events. The exhibit "NASA, a human adventure" was conceived by José Poeiras and by José Araújo in conjuction with an American who worked in the sets of the Star Wars saga movies. He has also cenography from the Portuguese Éric da Costa, who worked with actor António Feio.
The exhibit let's people know for the first time original technologies conceded by NASA, and life-sized mock-ups, made by Americans that, in conjunction with explaining pannels, are supported by wood and fiber glass structures conceived by Portuguese companies Leonel Bicho e Guliver.
" To assemble the exhibit, for 2 months, I took a team mostly made of Portuguese" the producer said. The exhibit reunites more than 200 pieces from NASA, among them original and replicas, wich tell the history of the space agency for the last 50 years.
In an area of over 2000 squared metres, the visitor also gets to know the visionaries who had the dream of going to the Moon, beggining with Jules Verne, the history of the space race fought by Americans and Russians, and current projects developed by NASA, like taking tourists to space. The exhibit was opened in Sweden in the end of January 2011, where it will stay until November, and will visit several European countries for the next 6 years, excluding Portugal."

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Discovery begins its last orbit

Blasphemy! The will not be pleased by recognizing Discovery as merely a machine! Discovery will always be a majerstic ship, just like her ancestors that roamed the oceans of the Earth. She, and her sisters, would always be on the center of the probe's hall of fame, telling us of stories of brave men and women who made the first efforts of making space exploration more down to Earth, while soaring ever farther into the sky and universe.
So please, if you can, call Discovery a she, and she will return with a graceful turn over the clear Flordian skies!:tiphat:

 

[Gerdih]

Where to see the landing?

 

[N_Molson]

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html?param=public

 

[diogom]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-hd-tv HD channel of NASA, they will cover the landing and after. Or you can go to http://www.nasa.gov and look in the Multimedia area for the NASA TV.

 

[Gerdih]

Thanks! seeing it!

 

[N_Molson]

De-orbit burn successfully completed.

 

[diogom]

Weather looks good in KSC!

 

[HarvesteR]

48 minutes to landing

 

[Dambuster]

39 minutes!

 

[diogom]

5 min to EI.

EDIT: 32 min to landing

 

[N_Molson]

Entry interface.

 

[halcyon]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-hd-tv HD channel of NASA, they will cover the landing and after. Or you can go to http://www.nasa.gov and look in the Multimedia area for the NASA TV.

Thanks for the link!
Picture quality is great! And the feed is faster then CNN, which is always faster then NASA TV.

 

[N_Molson]

Maybe the most stressful moment of the mission...

---------- Post added at 04:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:30 PM ----------

Discovery on sight !! :thumbup:

---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 PM ----------

Subsonic !

 

[halcyon]

It's like watching history unfold.
I'm proud to say I can look back and tell someone I saw the last flight of Space Shuttle Discovery.
What a sight.