STS-118 Endeavour Shuttle Launch - 9th August 08:36am

[iceman]

Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-118 will deliver the S5 Truss and SPACEHAB on the twenty-second mission to the International Space Station.

Due for launch 8th 6:36pm. EDT, which is 9th August, 09:02am AEST.

Mission Page: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

[h0ughy]

you little ripper - there has been a STS mission every qld astrofest for the past 3 years, be great to see this one!!!!!

[DeanoNZL]

Some early morning passes of the ISS are close!
ISS - Visible Passes


Date Mag Starts Max. Altitude Ends
Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
07 Aug -0.7 05:27:48 10 NNW 05:30:27 36 NE 05:33:08 10 ESE
08 Aug -1.8 05:50:25 10 WNW 05:53:08 38 SW 05:55:51 10 SSE
09 Aug -0.4 04:41:27 30 E 04:41:27 30 E 04:43:29 10 ESE
10 Aug -1.0 05:04:28 28 S 05:04:28 28 S 05:06:12 10 SSE
11 Aug 0.2 05:27:07 10 SSW 05:27:07 10 SSW 05:27:20 10 SSW

[iceman]

hmm did they move the launch date?
I was sure it was Wednesday morning, now it's Thursday morning.

The countdown timer is correct. I'll now update this thread and the calendar entry.

It's a shame it's moved - I was hoping to watch it but now i'll be in transit on the way to BSG.

[Greg Bryant]

Mike,

It was indeed Wednesday, but they delayed it by a day over the weekend in order for pre-launch work to be completed.

It's nice that Barbara Morgan, the backup teacher astronaut to Christa McAuliffe (who was killed in the 1986 Challenger tragedy) will finally get to fly.

[Sausageman]

8.5 hours to lift off according to the NASA website.
That makes lift off about 2:45 am Thursday morning.
I'm looking forward to viewing both the ISS and the Shuttle again.

Mike.

[sheeny]

Yep, me too!

I don't think I'll watch the launch though:sadeyes:. I've had a couple of rough days at work yesterday and today with a fire in a chip reclaimer... got about 3 hours sleep last night, so I'm looking forward to bed tonight!;):thumbsup:

Al.

[ballaratdragons]

I panicked today when I saw the time in the window to the left of screen with the countdown!!!

18 minutes to go :eyepop:

I rushed to get NASA TV online, only to find them replaying old missions!!! :shrug:

I quickly checked the countdown on the left again.

Oops, 18 HOURS!!! :doh: :whistle:

[davidpretorius]

classic Ken!

[ballaratdragons]

Hooray, they've finally turned the live images on :cool:

[rowena]

There are two launch down clocks. One includes all the times for the scheduled holds the other does not. So you do need to becareful of which one you are looking at!

Less the 10 mins to go :)

[erick]

"Clear to launch" Great! I didn't miss it!

[Marko of Oz]

Well that was cool, what happens to the main fuel tank? burn up? drift away? :shrug:

[Tamtarn]

WOW !!! A shuttle launch is always such an amazing event. :eyepop:

Successful launch :thumbsup:

[merlin8r]

Yes, it just drops away and burns up. Bit of a waste really. There has been discussion of lifting them a bit higher and using them to build things. In the fabulous Mars trilogy, they built a 100-crew ship to Mars out of them!

Clear skies,
Shane

[erick]

External tank:- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/basics/et/

[sheeny]

I missed it.:doh: But I caught the replay:thumbsup:. Did it go early?

I got so confused:lol:... 2 something am, then 9:02am (the radio confirmed this) so I ducked home just before 9 to log on and see the SRBs separating...:rolleyes: then they said they were watching replays anyway as they were 24 minutes into the flight!

Oh well, the replay looked almost as good!:P:whistle:

Al.

[iceman]

The de-orbit burn is scheduled to occur on Wednesday, August 22 @ 15:50 GMT, which is Thursday morning, 1:50 AM AEST, with actual landing about an hour later.

Looks like we'll need to stay up late to watch this one.

[Neilzstar]

I have the landing at 2.28 am Wed AEST. Have I got it right? Cheers.

[davidpretorius]

can we see it visually????

last time, i followed it on nasa tv and the orbit came in over tassie, but no luck seeing it!

[iceman]

You may be right, Neil.. I went off the PDF on the NASA TV schedule, but they may not have updated it after the shuttle is being brought home a day early.

[Neilzstar]

Mike, I am determined not to miss it, So I will be watching all through anyway. For others who may be interested, further figuring (if I am right)gives the de-orbit burn at 1.25 am AEST Wed., with the landing at 2.32 AEST Wed. USA central time is 14 hours behind AEST, as I see it. Listed Central times are 11.25 de-orbit and 12.32 landing. But I would appreciate confirmation and/or correction. Might mean a lot to those of us setting alarms etc., Cheers and Good Luck

[davidpretorius]

as at about 9.30pm, they were saying on nasa tv, that the 1st window for landing is in around 4 hrs... so it loks like neil is right

[ballaratdragons]

Yep, they are saying it comes in to land in a few hours, and if it misses the first opportunity it has to fly directly over Hurricane Dean on its 2nd attempt.

They don't think it will affect them.

If I was in the shuttle I would like more than 'We think it won't affect you'!!!!

[okiscopey]

Landing at 11:32 Central Time just announced. That translates to 02:32 AEST if I got the calculations right ... just over 3 hours from now. Set your alarms!

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Mike.

Time to turn on NASA-TV :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Safe landing, congrats to the mission crew!

[ballaratdragons]

I fell asleep :ashamed:

:P

[erick]

Yep, I slept through it. Take-off is more fun! I saw that live! NASA TV is very good.

[erick]

Just searching for stuff on one of my favourite cartoonists, Ron Cobb. Came across this:-

http://www.roncobbdesigns.com/Official_NASA_artist_STS-4.213.0.html


ps. if anyone out there has copies of Ron Cobb's books of cartoons from the early 70s, long out of print and long lost during my moves, I'd be interested in borrowing them. There are some funny cartoons on Viking's arrival at Mars.