Updates STS-135 Updates

[DanM]

You can track the launch live in Google Earth.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/shuttle_google_earth.html

 

[ky]

Well, T-[eventTimer]2011-07-08 15:26:46;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds[/eventTimer] Til STS-135 Launches

 

[DanM]

T-20 minutes and holding.

 

[N_Molson]

One of the local TV stations, BFM TV, makes frequent updates of the launch, with the Apollo 13 movie soundtrack as a background. That's not usual.

They even showed some extracts of astronauts and techs interviews.

BTW, they seem completely unaware of the weather no-go thing, said that the Soyuz was another "shuttle", and that the next american "shuttle" is expected for 2015...

 

[ky]

T-20 minutes and counting.11 minutes till the next hold.

---------- Post added at 02:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:20 PM ----------

T-9 minutes and holding.

 

[diogom]

BTW, they seem completely unaware of the weather no-go thing, said that the Soyuz was another "shuttle", and that the next american "shuttle" is expected for 2015...

:facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:

 

[ky]

Very Cloudy in Boynton Beach 180+miles from KSC.I won't be able to it from here

 

[FADEC]

One question: why is there only a crew 4 aboard the Shuttle during this last mission?

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Are they green for weather now?

 

[agentgonzo]

One question: why is there only a crew 4 aboard the Shuttle during this last mission?

The is no other shuttle for a LON rescue mission, so in the event of them not being able to reenter, they have to stow aboard the ISS and return in Soyuzes over the next 12 months

 

[diogom]

Are they green for weather now?

Yes, they are. And they hope it will still be at launch time.

 

[N_Molson]

One question: why is there only a crew 4 aboard the Shuttle during this last mission?

In case of a contingency scenario, if the heat shield is damaged during launch. That would mean the Shuttle would be unable to perform reentry. The astronauts would have to be integrated to the ISS expeditions schedule, and would use Soyuz to return to Earth. Even so, it would take almost a year for all them to land. There's no possibility to send another Shuttle to fetch them this time.

 

[FADEC]

The is no other shuttle for a LON rescue mission, so in the event of them not being able to reenter, they have to stow aboard the ISS and return in Soyuzes over the next 12 months

Thanks for the info.

Are they green for weather now?

I think they are. At least it was during hold at T-09 minutes.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Yes, they are. And they hope it will still be at launch time.

I just finally got onto NASA TV - green for launch weather, but RTLS visibility is close, but green. Fly baby, fly!

 

[HarvesteR]

Still holding, and still green as it seems. Cloud cover seems about 60% scattered (from what I can see from NasaTV), doesn't look bad.

Cheers

 

[ky]

They are green for RTLS abort weather.For now.

 

[agentgonzo]

You can track the launch live in Google Earth.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/shuttle_google_earth.html

Does this show flight speed, altitude, range etc and is the data realtime from MCC or just a pre-determined set of "it will follow this course"

 

[N_Molson]

Still holding, and still green as it seems. Cloud cover seems about 60% scattered (from what I can see from NasaTV), doesn't look bad.

Yeah, but the visibility seem low, and the weather looks stormy overall... Very hard to predict anything until the last minute I fear...

 

[diogom]

Does this show flight speed, altitude, range etc and is the data realtime from MCC or just a pre-determined set of "it will follow this course"

The data is realtime from MCC.

 

[HarvesteR]

Yeah, now they're showing a wide angle view, presumably from the roof of the VAB... visibility is indeed low...

still green though

Cheers