STS-121 Update Thread: Part Two

[syndroma]

Great launch! Congrats everyone!

 

[alokmohan]

Congrats.Many were appehensive.

 

[superluminal]

Thank you <br /><br />That sure was excellent ascent video.<br /><br />I felt like I was actually aboard Discovery.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Columbia and Challenger </font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Starships of Heroes</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I also saw this happen clearly (CBS television), and commented about it at the time to my wife, who was also watching. Moments later the CBS comentator said that "no pieces had fallen off", and I told my wife that he was wrong.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Dang, you have good eyes!<br /><br />I didn't spot any of the debris. (Mind you, my daughter was fussing away in an attempted nap during the launch. She'd been pretty cranky most of the day.) From what I've seen in the NASA stills highlighting the debris, it was all very small. You have very good eyes indeed! I am impressed!<br /><br />From what I've been reading, it sounds like most of it originated near the LOX feedline -- and of course the infamous crack was near the forward bracket holding the feedline onto the tank. Too soon to say whether there's a connection, but it does seem like an interesting correlation. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[elguapoguano]

I missed the pieces falling off as well, and I was watching the launch on HDNET. Luckily though they were the small ones that were expected. GodSpeed Discovery!!! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#ff0000"><u><em>Don't let your sig line incite a gay thread ;>)</em></u></font> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Succesful but risk with human lives.Good nothing bad happened.Congrats.

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

That was one of the most beautiful launches I have ever seen. I had a pair of binoculars that really brought it as close as I've ever seen, plus the sea breeze was super clear. We had a good spot on the Indian River, and a large crowd was already there, we got there about 15 minutes before lift-off, which would be cutting it way to close for somebody from out of town. If you are from out of town, I reccomend making a day out of it with a picnic, and lots of bug spray.....they don't call it Mosquito Lagoon because it's shaped like a Mosquito. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Lot's of sunscrean, too.<br /><br />They picked the perfect day for it, and what an awesome way to spend a 230th birthday. What a great launch, what a great machine, and what a great bunch of people that make it happen. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bdewoody]

Amen <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em><font size="2">Bob DeWoody</font></em> </div>

 

[hurricane4911]

Viewing wasn't very good here on the west coast of Florida. Too many clouds. However I did watch it on HD-NET. Almost as good.<br /><br /><br /><br />

 

[rybanis]

What a wonderful wedding gift! <br /><br /><br /><br />A splendid launch! Good job SG! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[superluminal]

Discovery less than 21,000 feet from I.S.S.<br /><br />Nice video indeed!<br /><br /><br /> <br /><br /><br />Nice flying Discovery. Beautiful rotation.<br /><br />I bet you could parallel park it, if necessary.<br /><br />I'm a mesmerized speck of atomic dust from Earth. <br /><br /> Now ninety five feet away, closing at a tenth of a foot per. second.<br /><br /><br /><br />10 40 am est.<br /> Less than a solar 8.3 light minute to Earth away..<br /><br /> Capture confirmed.<br /><br /><br />WoW!<br /><br /><br />1052 A M EST. 7/ 6/ 06<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Columbia and Challenger </font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Starships of Heroes</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[odysseus145]

Looks like Discovery brought up some unexpected cargo. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[rsscp1]

I don't know if this has been discussed before, but a search didn't turn up anything.<br /><br />I was wondering why when they launch the space shuttle, the ISS is on the other side of the world. I'm sure there is a good reason for it, especially since there is only a 5-minute launch window, so it seems important. But I can't figure out why they don't launch it when the ISS is closer to Florida. Having to catch up for two days seems like a waste of resources if there wasn't a good reason for this. Could somebody clarify?

 

[rfoshaug]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I was wondering why when they launch the space shuttle, the ISS is on the other side of the world. I'm sure there is a good reason for it, especially since there is only a 5-minute launch window, so it seems important. But I can't figure out why they don't launch it when the ISS is closer to Florida. Having to catch up for two days seems like a waste of resources if there wasn't a good reason for this. Could somebody clarify?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Check this out: Launch window<br /><br />It explains it quite well. The text refers to Mir, but ISS has the same inclination in its orbit (although not the same orbital plane) that Mir had.<br /><br />Just imagine holding a large ring around our globe. This ring is the orbital path ISS follows. You hold the ring so that it is not along the equator (like the rings of Saturn), but so that it is tilted in a way that the part of the ring that goes most to the north goes to 51.6 degrees north, and the southernmost part of the ring goes to 51.6 degrees south. This is the inclination of the orbit of ISS.<br /><br /><br />Then imagine that the Earth is turning (as it, of course, does at one revolution per day) but the ring stays where it is. This means that sometimes, Florida is just under the ring, but at other times, it's not. Actually, Florida will pass under the ring twice a day - when the ring goes southwest to northeast and when the ring goes northwest to southeast as seen from Florida.<br /><br />The trick to launch a shuttle to the ISS is to time your launch when the launch site in Florida passes just under the ring. You have to launch in a northeast or southeast direction, to get some speed from the Earth's rotation (which is toward the east). Launching when the ring seems to point southeast from Florida can't be done, as it would mean that the shuttle has to overfly p <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff9900">----------------------------------</font></p><p><font color="#ff9900">My minds have many opinions</font></p> </div>

 

[superluminal]

Thanks for that excellent read.<br /><br /> If Stephanie Wilson had a robotic arm long enough, she could pick up Jupiter. lol nice job <br /> Go for second stage capture.<br /><br />Biographical Data<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Steven W. Lindsey<br /><br /><br /> Mark E, Kelly<br /><br /><br /><br /> Michael E. Fossum<br /><br /><br /><br /> Lisa M. Nowak<br /><br /> <br /><br /> Stephanie D. Wilson<br /><br /><br /><br />Piers J. Sellers <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> THOMAS REITER<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Columbia and Challenger </font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Starships of Heroes</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[radarredux]

> <i><font color="yellow">Certainly, in future launches the same vigilence will be needed, on the other hand, there is no reason that the construction of the ISS will be further delayed.</font>/i><br /><br />This mission certainly looks good so far, but I am still waiting for the third successful launch. I think with three under their belt, I think NASA will be able to weather future small foam incidents better.<br /><br />Any news on the radar analysis of the launch? Beyond the third successful launch, I think another important milestone for NASA is the ability to return to night launches.</i>

 

[SpaceKiwi]

I remain cautiously optimistic that they have a handle on the foam shedding problem now, however I do believe a two-mission data set is way too small to start popping the champagne corks just yet.<br /><br />Each ET is a unique 'hand-built' piece of kit. I wonder if the good perfomance of this tank and the poor performance of the '114 tank were/are just 'luck of the draw'? While I don't doubt that the NASA folks have done good work and the general rule of 'the less foam on the tank to fall off, the better' is a desirable one, what happens if we get a similar performance to the '114 ET with the '115 ET? Back to square one? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>

 

[bushuser]

Probably never back to square one, because the fatal event is NOT foam shedding. The killer is unsuspected damage to the TPS. That's the advantage of the new, intensified on-orbit inspections.

 

[torino10]

I brought my mom to Boston today and got to watch the NASA chanel on her tv last night. It was very cool watching them board ISS. I thought it was fummy when MC mentioned the "horizontal" pony tails of Lisa and Stephanie. You could really tell who was a rookie and who was a veteran by the way they moved about. I have got to find a way to get the NASA chanel.

 

[erioladastra]

No, there are no "zero" defects. There are still a number of small nicks and possible one missing tile. But this is the cleanest shuttle we have had, a real improvement.

 

[erioladastra]

"This mission certainly looks good so far"<br /><br />Yes, so far so good. We have had some minor issues such as straps hanging out on the CBM cover which had to be monitored durign the berthing of the MPLM, but generally everything is going extremely well.

 

[spacester]

Nice posts here. I've been hesitant to offer congrats until we got the data in.<br /><br />GREAT JOB NASA! The TIGER TEAM got 'er done!<br /><br />All would be well served to understand exactly what 1207 means by zero defects. I'm on the same page as him on this. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[phaze]

"Markings on the shuttle's nose cap were determined to be harmless bird droppings. Marks on certain panels of the thermal blanket covering Discovery's belly didn't have crushed coating or other signs of damage. Two other gap fillers didn't appear to pose problems."<br /><br />What does this say about the properties of bird droppings? Should NASA investigate possibly coating the shuttle in bird poop to make for a safer launch and landing?<br /><br />

 

[henryhallam]

Let's see if the droppings survive reentry before proclaiming a new wonder material!

 

[drwayne]

Wait till we see the final poop on the matter?<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>