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STS-119 Finally Launches Into Space

Posted by kdawson on from the third-time's-the-charm dept.

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."

17 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Good Luck Boys by Rog-Mahal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I hope there will be no footage of blown O-rings or damaged tiles. Shuttles are getting old. On another note, where could one get data on when the ISS will be overhead? I live in North-Eastern America and would love to catch a glimpse.

    1. Re:Good Luck Boys by antispam_ben · · Score: 5, Informative

      This site looks like just what you want:
      http://www.heavens-above.com/

      --
      Tag lost or not installed.
    2. Re:Good Luck Boys by dwhitaker · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Getting old? Shuttles are old - the Discovery alone is 25 years old and the Enterprise first flew in 1977. Hopefully the next generation of spacecraft will be able to last as long (or longer) in a very reliable fashion.

      --
      Douglas Whitaker
    3. Re:Good Luck Boys by Paul+server+guy · · Score: 5, Informative

      I like http://www.n2yo.com/?s=25544

      http://www.n2yo.com/?s=99999

      and http://www.n2yo.com/passes/?s=33442&tz=GMT-05:00 is fun/interesting as well.

      It's fun to have all three up at once, Discovery is right over my head now...

      --
      Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
    4. Re:Good Luck Boys by spacefiddle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      At this point i'm hoping there will be a "next generation of spacecraft" in my lifetime.

      where's that... one sec:

      I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never thought I'd see the last.
      Dr. Jerry Eugene Pournelle

      --
      That which does not kill us makes us... st
    5. Re:Good Luck Boys by dwhitaker · · Score: 4, Informative

      You are remembering correctly: it didn't, but it did do atmospheric flights for testing purposes. Also, at one point they were considering outfitting it for space flight after the loss of the Challenger but chose to build Endeavour from leftover parts instead due to cost. With the possibility it had (or has) of being outfitted for space, I think it warrants inclusion when talking about the family of space shuttles for statistical purposes in some categories.

      --
      Douglas Whitaker
    6. Re:Good Luck Boys by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

    7. Re:Good Luck Boys by GregNorc · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You are already seeing the next generation of spacecraft.

      Soyuz is a type of craft... not a specific model.

    8. Re:Good Luck Boys by GooberToo · · Score: 2, 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.

  2. Full Power for Full Science by stox · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I really liked that line.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
  3. Re:Fly-over times by chill · · Score: 4, Informative

    NASA, surprise, surprise.

    http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  4. Re:heh, by icannotthinkofaname · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's a space station! And it really is, too!

    --
    Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
  5. Re:Fly-over times by drawlight · · Score: 5, Informative

    Spaceweather.com has a simple Satellite Flybys/Satellite Tracker. http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys/

  6. Re:Fly-over times by Paul+server+guy · · Score: 3, 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...

    --
    Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
  7. Not quite accurate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    The spacecraft took off at precisely 7:43 p.m. EDT

    Having watched NASA's official feed, I can inform you this is incorrect. The precise time was 7:43:44 EDT.

  8. Re:Great Job NASA @ crew. by deglr6328 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    gosh I don't know, maybe NASA's slightly more interested in getting plain facts out instead of hyping every latest piece of new information to maximum sensationalistic mediagasm proportions?

    --
    - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
  9. Re:Precision Problem? by Petrini · · 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.