STS 128 Discovery Post Launch Thread.

[3488]

Discovery is passing over Germany almost meeting the docking with ISS over Poland.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

I just dared to go over to Spacefightnow & see a bit of streaming video. The docking took place ten minutes early whilst Discovery & ISS were just north of The Azores in the Atlantic, west of Portugal.

The docking has gone well.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Just been doing some reading with the latest on STS 128 Deiscovery.

The hard dock was successful

The starboard wing inspections have been cleared, which means that the Leonardo module can be hoisted out of the Cargo Bay of Discovery on Day 4 as planned.

Crew Member Nicole Scott is now formally part of Expedition 20 & is due to return to Earth on mission STS 129 Atlantis in mid November. Tim Kopra will return home on Discovery when she concludes STS 128 on Thursday 10th September 2009.

So far all is going very well & there is not a great deal to report as the crew are now in a sleep period.

Discovery / ISS are now passing over the Pacific roughly mid way betwenn Hawaii & Mexico.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Danny Olivas & Nicole Stott are almost ready to commence a 6.5 hour spacewalk, remove a depleted CO2 canister & retrieving scientific packages.

Meanwhile Discovery / ISS crew members will be emptying out Leonardo.

When empty, stuff to be returned to Earth will be loaded onto Leonardo, which will towards the end of STS 128 Discovery's stay at the ISS, will be detached, placed in Discovery's cargo bay & returned to Earth.

Discovery/ ISS are passing over Tunisia.

Andrew Brown.

.

 

[3488]

On Friday 4th September 2009, Discovery / ISS may have to 'swerve' to avoid a potential collision with an old piece of ESA Ariane 5 rocket body. The chance of an actual collision is extremely small.

The spent Ariane 5 will be monitored over the next 24 hours to determine it's closest approach to Discovery / ISS. So far it appears to be about 10 KM @ about 11:00 HRS EDT / 15:00 HRS GMT / 16:00 CET (BST). If so, then no action will be taken.

Article Here.

Andrew Brown.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Undocking is less than 15 minutes away

 

[3488]

First landing waved off due to excessive crosswinds, anvil cloud rule being violated & thunderstorms likely. The second landing opportunity at 8:42 PM EDT / 12:42 AM UTC (GMT) / 1:42 AM CET (BST) appears more likely as weather is expected to be improving by then as the convection is expected to decrease as it will be after sunset.

Andrew Brown.

 

[freya]

With a bit of luck, I maybe able to catch the landing on the work PC.
Just about to head out the door.
Goodluck to all for a safe landing.

 

[3488]

Landing has been delayed to Friday.

Most likely will be landing at Edwards Air Force Base, possibly 8:53 PM EDT. Whilst KSC has not been ruled out, Edwards looks more likely with Discovery taking a Boeing 747 flight back home to KSC.

Weather at Edwards looks perfect for tomorrow, but a low pressure system is expected to arrive in California on Saturday, will make for gusty conditions at Edwards.

So it looks like Discovery will have to land tomorrow, no matter what!!!!!

Weather in Florida looks as if it will be worse tomorrow, with greater risk of thunderstorms, anvil clouds & windier but we'll see.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Testing]

Looks like a landing at EAFB to me. Another bird comes home.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Deorbit burn underway..Discovery will be landing at Edwards in about an hour.

 

[Testing]

Heard her good, couldn't see her. But home safe here in California. Damn cloud.

 

[SpaceKiwi]

Is that a public road running through the back of the camera shot? I know the camera angle is probably deceiving but, even if the traffic isn't as close as it appears, that must be about as near as the general public could get to an Orbiter under almost any scenario isn't it?



SK

 

[Testing]

Is that a public road running through the back of the camera shot? I know the camera angle is probably deceiving but, even if the traffic isn't as close as it appears, that must be about as near as the general public could get to an Orbiter under almost any scenario isn't it?


No, it is not. I saw the first landing after Challenger. We made it by 15 minutes. All you can see is a dot naked eye and wheel stop on the runway is an inch long from the public area. Edwards is huge. Even if I had gone outside for the second attempt at EAFB the cloud would have obscuord my sighting from home 60 miles South.

 

[SpaceKiwi]

Thanks Testing. The amount of traffic running backwards and forwards along the road prompted the question. Seemed too much for base traffic but, as you point out, Edwards AFB is on a scale far bigger than any military installation I've seen in this part of the world.



SK

 

[Testing]

Thanks Testing. The amount of traffic running backwards and forwards along the road prompted the question. Seemed too much for base traffic but, as you point out, Edwards AFB is on a scale far bigger than any military installation I've seen in this part of the world.



What you saw was the massive invrastructure required to recieve an STS landing. Think about it.

Oh yeah, with a day and a half notice.

Care to jump in SG?

 

[3488]

Spaceflight Now have posted up a gallery of STS 128 Discovery landing images

The first one was whilst Discovery was still at altitude, quite an unusual shot.

Great to see her back O K.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Testing]

Spaceflight Now have posted up a gallery of STS 128 Discovery landing images

The first one was whilst Discovery was still at altitude, quite an unusual shot.

Great to see her back O K.

Andrew Brown.

Now that is the kind of viewing location I would want. As stated above, I wanted to be closer. I'll sign a waiver. I was was watching the landing track and ran outside to look overhead but didn't have a chance.

 

[shuttle_guy]

Thanks Testing. The amount of traffic running backwards and forwards along the road prompted the question. Seemed too much for base traffic but, as you point out, Edwards AFB is on a scale far bigger than any military installation I've seen in this part of the world.



What you saw was the massive invrastructure required to recieve an STS landing. Think about it.

Oh yeah, with a day and a half notice.

Care to jump in SG?

All of the convoy vehicles are always at DFRC. We (KSC) flies the personel out 2 days before the landing even if the primary landing site is KSC. We send additional personel out if the landing takes place at DFRC. The first few years of the program the personel flew out on a chartered DC-9 from KSC directly to Edwards AFB. These days they fly commercial flights.

 

[Testing]

Good to hear from you SG. Wish we were arguing over the tab. All home safe. Nothing else matters.

 

[shuttle_guy]

Good to hear from you SG. Wish we were arguing over the tab. All home safe. Nothing else matters.

I am not going on the recovery teams any more. I miss those trips but I made about 26 of them including the one at WSTF (STS-3 in 1982) now that was a trip..................a wide time was had by all....except for the sand storm...

 

[Testing]

Good to hear from you SG. Wish we were arguing over the tab. All home safe. Nothing else matters.

I am not going on the recovery teams any more. I miss those trips but I made about 26 of them including the one at WSTF (STS-3 in 1982) now that was a trip..................a wide time was had by all....except for the sand storm...

I know man, you told me. I'll try to make it down there before the end of the program.

 

[Jeff_In_Space]

Kennedy posted a couple of cool STS-128 videos
STS-128 Mission Overview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckI2FyBTsZA

Discovery Arrives Back in Florida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDMBvXeDY6g

Welcome home Discovery, Jeff