STS-116 Discovery

[denverdoc]

Ok time for one of my irritating devil's advocate posts. So what if it's cloudy. Jets land in worse weather every day. Its equipped with GPS. Plenty of radar tracking. Wind shear data is known. And aint no way to save it if it things go awry.

Now may not be able to see the failure. But its headed for the scrap heap anyway. One more failure and I don't think there would ever be another launch. Light the sucker!
John S

 

[melvyn]

Just watched the launch on nasa.gov. Looked good all the way to MECO.

 

[denverdoc]

Originally posted by melvyn
Just watched the launch on nasa.gov. Looked good all the way to MECO.

Perfect flight so far--nice footage too. Thank God and the men/women who pulled this off,
JS

 

[Pyro Pro]

Went out to the field again, but didn't see it go up.

Went on Nasa.gov, and it looks like it's all going well so far.

 

[cjl]

Originally posted by denverdoc
Ok time for one of my irritating devil's advocate posts. So what if it's cloudy. Jets land in worse weather every day. Its equipped with GPS. Plenty of radar tracking. Wind shear data is known. And aint no way to save it if it things go awry.

Now may not be able to see the failure. But its headed for the scrap heap anyway. One more failure and I don't think there would ever be another launch. Light the sucker!
John S

I agree.

Why does it matter if there are 800 feet of clouds over the launch site?

Last I checked, the engines don't care if they're running in clouds, in the atmosphere, or underwater - they are completely enclosed, and the shuttle isn't going fast enough by that point for the slight density difference to mean a thing...

I don't see why they're so picky about the launch conditions at all.

 

[Delta-IV]

A couple of reasons.....1..they still are concerned with foam loss and strikes on the Orbiter. Ground Cameras need to be able to see the Orbiter as it ascends and 2...some clouds can generate static, and hence, induced lightning....which could be a very bad thing. It happened on one of the Apollo Missions.

 

[Lucas]

Beautiful! Hopefully no foam problems.

 

[Jacobgold91]

I love Floridia. I cam see it launch from my house. I live like 150m from cape canevral. And yes it was lovley!

 

[Donaldsrockets]

I looked outside and I really couldn't see anything, it appeared to be pretty cloudy here.

Appeared to be a great launch and even in the darkness, you could still make out the ET seperation.

I still think NASA should put Skidmark in the SRBs!!!

 

[DaveCombs]

Does anyone know for sure when they will replay the launch on NASA TV? I meant to set my Tivo, but I had a brain fart and forgot.

 

[Jacobgold91]

Lets get nasa to put sparkys in next time!

 

[dwmzmm]

Originally posted by DaveCombs
Does anyone know for sure when they will replay the launch on NASA TV? I meant to set my Tivo, but I had a brain fart and forgot.

What's a brain fart?!

 

[DaveCombs]

Originally posted by dwmzmm
What's a brain fart?!

You know, I don't seem to remember...

 

[denverdoc]

Originally posted by Delta-IV
A couple of reasons.....1..they still are concerned with foam loss and strikes on the Orbiter. Ground Cameras need to be able to see the Orbiter as it ascends and 2...some clouds can generate static, and hence, induced lightning....which could be a very bad thing. It happened on one of the Apollo Missions.

Ok ill concede the foam, maybe--the last block was caught way high with the on board cams, no way would it have been seen seen from ground, and this still pisses me off, on columbia, several unheeded requests went for ground based inspections. A bunch of great and heroic folk died. Lightning?? Lets hope they have figured away to avoid this.

Lets be grateful fo a good shot and successful mission.
JS

 

[Lucas]

Originally posted by denverdoc

Lets be grateful for a good shot and successful mission.
JS

Well a successful launch but they have a long way to go before it can be considered a successful mission, this one is very complex and just underway...

 

[Fred]

Oustanding launch Well done NASA. That is hows it's done. I have every confidence in the crew and the bird to get this done.
Cheers
Fred

 

[Fred]

heres where you can find some of the videos
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts116/launch/launch-allvideos.html
Cheers
fred

 

[DaveCombs]

Just watched the condensed replay - that Tank Cam view was awesome at MECO and tank sep!

 

[Delta-IV]

Originally posted by denverdoc
...... Lightning?? Lets hope they have figured away to avoid this......JS

Yes, they avoid it by not flying through clouds that could generate the induced lightning.

-Delta-IV-

Apollo 12's Stormy Beginning By Andy Chaikin:

"Conrad and his crew could see trickles of water on Yankee Clipper's windows. Some 3.5 miles away, launch controllers reviewed the situation and ruled that conditions were safe for launch. It was a fateful decision.

Thirty seconds after liftoff, Conrad saw a bright flash through his window. Seconds later, he and his crewmates heard the wail of the master alarm in their headphones. When he glanced at the instrument panel, Conrad saw more warning lights than he'd ever encountered in any simulation on Earth. Something was very wrong with the spacecraft's electrical system.

What no one had yet realized was that Apollo 12 had been struck by lightning. As the Saturn booster sped through rain clouds, it had become the world's longest lightning rod. A bolt of electricity had struck the spacecraft and traveled all the way to the ground, 6,000 feet below, along the column of hot, charged gases of the Saturn's exhaust plume. The bolt had knocked Yankee Clipper's power-producing fuel cells off line, and had even jolted the command module's navigation system."

 

[foose4string]

Any forum members here in the mid-Atlantic catch a glimpse of the shuttle before MECO? I'm in Maryland, and thought I saw something about 7 or 8 minutes after liftoff, but I wouldn't swear to it. Something was streaking across the southern sky at a very high rate of speed for about 15-20 second and then I lost it in the tree tops. Seemed like it could have been gaining some altitude, but traveling mostly horizonital and not a very high azimuth, say about 10-15. Could this have been the shuttle or just a regular aircraft?

 

[denverdoc]

Originally posted by Delta-IV
Yes, they avoid it by not flying through clouds that could generate the induced lightning.

Apollo 12's Stormy Beginning By Andy Chaikin:

"with the spacecraft's electrical system.

What no one had yet realized was that Apollo 12 had been struck by lightning. As the Saturn booster sped through rain clouds, it had become the world's longest lightning rod. A bolt of electricity had struck the spacecraft and traveled all the way to the ground, 6,000 feet below, along the column of hot, charged gases of the Saturn's exhaust plume. The bolt had knocked Yankee Clipper's power-producing fuel cells off line, and had even jolted the command module's navigation system."

Thanks for the info was unaware of the lighning rod properties the exhaust plume has, so didn't understand the complete significance of this risk.
JS

 

[jadebox]

My wife and I drove over to Titusville for the launch last night. We took a round-about route because the TV news had reported on traffic problems in Titusville due to their Christmas parade as well as the shuttle launch.

We didn't run into any traffic until we got close to Space View Park. And most of that traffic was floats from the parade! So we parked about a block away and walked to Space View Park. There was a good crowd there, but not nearly as many as had seen at previous launches. We were able to easily find a nice spot to watch the lift-off.

We got there about one hour before lift-off. We talked with the people standing around us. They were from out of the area. The father had been to a launch many years before, but the rest of the family had not seen one before. The grandfather remarked that he'd waited 83 years to see a launch.

The PA system wasn't as loud as usual at the park so we couldn't hear the countdown until people began counting along the final few seconds. When the count reached zero, a bright light appeared below the shuttle and it seemed that several seconds past before it began to rise. Soon the light of the flames lit up the billowing white smoke as the rocket rose into the sky.

A night-launch definitely looks better in person than on TV. I was just watching the NASA TV replay and the rocket looks like just a ball of light. We could see the shuttle stack as well as the flames distinctly as it arced towards the north. The reflection of the launch made a streak of white across the Indian River. After a few seconds the sound began to reach us, first as a faint growl then increasing in volume to a roar. The water was choppy so I didn't see the sound cause ripples in the river as I had during earlier launches.

As the rocket continued arcing away, it appeard as a bright dot.
We were able to see the SRB seperation as two small red dots fell away from the bright white dot.

We were able to still spot Discovery for a while as we walked back to our car.

-- Roger

 

[cjl]

Originally posted by foose4string
Any forum members here in the mid-Atlantic catch a glimpse of the shuttle before MECO? I'm in Maryland, and thought I saw something about 7 or 8 minutes after liftoff, but I wouldn't swear to it. Something was streaking across the southern sky at a very high rate of speed for about 15-20 second and then I lost it in the tree tops. Seemed like it could have been gaining some altitude, but traveling mostly horizonital and not a very high azimuth, say about 10-15. Could this have been the shuttle or just a regular aircraft?

Sounds like the shuttle to me...

 

[Lucas]

Discovery's crew has been given a "go" to proceed with docking currently at I would say 40ft or so...

 

[Lucas]

10ft

 

[Lucas]

4:12 PM central time Discovery docked on its 33 voyage making its 7th visit to the ISS.

 

[Fred]

Niiice Let the rewiring begin.
Cheers
fred

 

[Rocketmaniac]

Originally posted by foose4string
Any forum members here in the mid-Atlantic catch a glimpse of the shuttle before MECO? I'm in Maryland, and thought I saw something about 7 or 8 minutes after liftoff, but I wouldn't swear to it. Something was streaking across the southern sky at a very high rate of speed for about 15-20 second and then I lost it in the tree tops. Seemed like it could have been gaining some altitude, but traveling mostly horizonital and not a very high azimuth, say about 10-15. Could this have been the shuttle or just a regular aircraft?

We had our TRA Sport launch this weekend. About a half dozen of us went to the field around 8:40 and waited. About 8:50 we had a great view of the shuttle climbing into the sky. I would guess we saw it for about 30-40 seconds. I think that we lost sight of it when the SRBs separated. It was an amazing sight.