Shuttle Launch

[rowena]

Shuttle launch in 2 and a half hours. Will be live coverage on channel 7 from midnight EST.

[h0ughy]

yes, watching it now on nasaTV

[toetoe]

Good luck to them all. If i'm still awake i will be watching the take off as i have been hanging out for this.

[robin]

This will be worth seeing.Hope weather doesnt delay it.

[rowena]

Hope the sensors don't malfunction!

[slice of heaven]

Their launching regardless of the sensors. As long as no other 'new' problem arises.
They cant find the fault so their assuming there isnt one.
The safety rules were rewritten after one of the disasters and states launches will be abandoned if 'all' 4 sensors arent functioning.
Work that out :shrug:

[toetoe]

Strange rules arn't they. One sensor going off would be enough for me to stop the launch as you are responsable for human life.

[rowena]

but this is supposedly a secondary backup sensor that is causing all the problems.

now watching nasa tv too.

[toetoe]

The reality is, they can't afford not to launch. Fingers crossed.

[slice of heaven]

Thats the point.
The 'secondary' sensor confirms the primary is functioning and reading properly.


Maybe that Aussie on board said "She'll be right mate, kick it in the guts and we'll be off"

[ballaratdragons]

1 Hour to go folks!

[toetoe]

Good one slice :rofl:
Can some one give me a link for nasa tv please or will google find it for me??

[elusiver]

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

el :)

[cometcatcher]

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

[toetoe]

Thakns el.

[cometcatcher]

Beat me while I was typing. :P

[RAJAH235]

www.nasa.gov Go there for link. :D L.
ps. Boy you have to qwik O'd hear. L.

[rowena]

yes unfortunatly we have all seen what happened in 1986 when they decided to go then..


ohhh i just noticed... they have a prelaunch orbit schedule in Heavens-above.com!!!!

[cometcatcher]

Nice birdy.

[gaa_ian]

Cool Watching now too .. l pray for their safe arrival !

[elusiver]

i'm fast cometcatcher :)

"I'm so fast that last night I turned the light off, and I was in bed before the room went dark"
Muhammad Ali :)

el :)

[elusiver]

what times the actual launch our time?

el :)

[RAJAH235]

I wonder how much those high speed, plane mounted cameras cost. Steerable at what speed. :D L.

[elusiver]

sorted.. it should be around 12:38am

el :)

[rowena]

Rajah, I was thinking I want one of those high definition cameras ditto!
I was thinking it kinda looks like my 5" celestron!!

[ballaratdragons]

They claim that the exact lift-off time is 12:39 AEST. Weather looking good.

[rowena]

yup as long as they don't take longer then scheduled in their planned hold's or if they decide to abort.

[toetoe]

Tnx for the nasa link everyone. I clicked on the windows media player link and it just sat there trying to load, i gave up after a couple of goes and about ten minutes:( so i hope Prime TV put it on, being a feed from the 7 network i asume they will.

[ballaratdragons]

I'm watching it on SkyNews. NASATV isn't any good on dial-up!

[rowena]

that was my next question.... prime or channel 7 is supposed to be showing the shuttle launch from midnight.. in the tv guides. It currently isn't on here in wollongong so is anyone else getting it on tv yet?? stupid tv guides.. that really annoys me that tv stations can't get their advertised times right!!

[toetoe]

Not me, some comedy show is on and in the book it saysTru Calling at 11.30 till 12.30

[Smokey]

Its on Channel 9 here in Melb. Got a special extended edition of Nightline on with Johnathon Nally from Aust Sky and Telescope mag

[rowena]

yeahi got that same comedy show.... the online tv guides all say 12:00 to 1:00 is shuttle launch. Think TV has realised that a launch is boring until a diaster happens, then its NEWS worth reporting on/showing. Bet they only have a 30min segment on it tonight!

[rowena]

Smokey its official! NSW just sucks! ;)

[rowena]

just noticed that channel 9 is also going to be doing footage from 12:30, so if prime doesn't do anything, will be switching over to 9.

[toetoe]

They betta put it on. David Letterman on win, no nightline here.:(

[rowena]

woot! go channel 7! finially now :)

[RAJAH235]

Use the Real player link for live feed.......:D L.

[ballaratdragons]

8 minutes!!!

[elusiver]

toetoe if u'r using win xp sp2 or google popup blocker u gotto hold ctrl when you click the windows media player link :)

el :)

[toetoe]

Thanks guys.

[ballaratdragons]

I'm going to sit in front of the TV. See you all in about 10 minutes!

[RAJAH235]

Living in such a confined space eg; a caravan, all I have to do is.... turn around on my swivel chair. :D L. OOOOO It's getting exciting..............

[rowena]

Scary to think the shuttle will be launched in 60secnds :)

[elusiver]

i think nasa live's a minute behind :(

el :)

[elusiver]

i've got 1:30

el :)

[elusiver]

this is awesome!

el :)

[rowena]

yeah Nasa TV was arounda minute and a half behind realtime, and tv had about a 10second delay.

Nice to see the shuttle get up! :)
love the new camera views on the tank and bottom of the shuttle.

[elusiver]

wow it's already in space sorta..

el :)

[janoskiss]

Oh no! Not another boring space launch! Change the channel, change the channel, change the channel!!!

[elusiver]

is anyone else getting a sort of reflection of a waving cloth like a flag or something in the camera lense??

el :)

[elusiver]

pretty much all done.. going to bed now :)

el :)

[rowena]

might be flare because of the rocket

[ballaratdragons]

Hooray!!!!! whistle, whistle.

COOOOOL! They made it!!!!

[RAJAH235]

Wow That was tremendous. Glad it all went well. Good luck to all. Safe return...:thumbsup: :2thumbs: :D L.

[ballaratdragons]

Each Launch still amazes me! I was Glued to the telly!!!!

[gaa_ian]

Great Launch ... love the live tank cam feed ..... 20,000 people working for 2 yrs to get it back in the air !
Makes the mining industry projects (100million to 2 Billion) I work on look small !

[ballaratdragons]

This thread must be a record in itself! 3 pages long already and over 56 posts to this point all in a short time!! It was only started at 10:13p.m. WOW! Thanks Rowena.

[Smokey]

Wow.
That was excellent to watch. The cameras were great.
Congrats to Nasa and the crew.
Here's hoping that all thier farts are odorless. :rofl: :rofl:

[slice of heaven]

Absolutely brilliant!!!!
Thank god its up!

Good telecast too.

[asimov]

Excellent!!:jump: :cheers: :party2: :clap: :rockband: :jump2:

May their re-entry be a safe one!!:jump2:

[gaa_ian]

Night All ... must sleep ...zzzzzzz :-)

[cometcatcher]

Had good coverage on many satellites including Nasa TV on Intelsat 701 and UP4 on Asiasat 2.

Nasa TV on I701 now replaying views taken from all the different cameras. Great stuff. Of course Nasa TV will be buzzing with shuttle activity for the next 12 days at least.

[slice of heaven]

Must say it was good sharing the launch with you people :thumbsup:
Thanks for the thread Rowena.

[beren]

Man thats just awesome to witness , lump in the throat stuff

[MiG]

That was so cool. I watched a bit of NASA TV until the TV stations started showing stuff. Then I was channel hopping between 7 and 9 to get the best stuff. A few minutes before launch 7 had some cool live footage while 9 was talking. But during ascent, 7 had an ex astronaut talking over the NASA TV man! Big no no so I quickly switched. Stupid NBC.
Since the TV stations returned to crap TV I've had NASA TV on. Mostly quite boring but there was some good launch footage from various cameras on the launch pad.
It feels silly having such strong feelings while watching it take off. Perhaps it's because I was watching the Columbia reentry on NASA TV when it died.

[iceman]

That was absolutely awesome, set the alarm for 12:30am and got my son Jacob (6) and my wife up to watch it with me.

As beren said, lump in the throat stuff.. it was my first "real" live shuttle launch experience.. I remember previous ones, but not with the same excitement as I wasn't fully into astronomy at that time.

Jacob loved it, i'm sure he'll talk about it at school today during "news" time.

[Exfso]

Yeah excellent coverage. Bit scary about the debris coming off. See
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16063727-2,00.html

[slice of heaven]

Thats a worry.
At least their armed with a patch up kit.

It'll really blow their budget if they have to use Atlantis to pick them up if it turns out to be a major concern.

[cometcatcher]

I didn't record it but the rear camera showed a LOT of ice falling off during launch. I guess it's always going to be a concern. In view of that it's amazing they got away with it for so long without tile damage in critical areas before Columbia.

They have to be ever so careful with so many factors a Mars mission seems like a 1000 years away from here. I don't think we are going to keep the time frame of Star Trek or the ease at which their shuttles launch! :P

[slice of heaven]

Maybe if they started painting the external tank again the insulation might stay intact.They never had a problem with the painted tanks, they looked better too.
The paint weighed 500 pounds and was discontinued in their weight saving program to reduce launch costs and increase payload weight.

Their moon mars and beyond program seems like a sci-fi dream at the moment.

[rowena]

A couple more pics that have been released by the media/nasa. shows the tile damage thanks to the new camera mounted on the main external tank.

also showing a orange chunk coming off aswell... dare say this is fromthe external tank and not the shuttle, but can only wait and see what the experts say.


and as for our record of a night.... its always good to break recordds... something we can aim for in the furture ;) :thumbsup:

[rowena]

ohh btw have u guys seen the footage from the aircraft that was in the air taking footage?? http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/videos/metafiles/ksc_072605_rtf_etcam.ram

It gives you a totally new perspective in how fast the shuttle really goes. You can see the speed really start to kick in around 30seconds after launch.

[ballaratdragons]

I'll take your word for it re: aicraft video, as I can't get in to it.

[iceman]

I'd love to see that Rowena, does anyone know of any other media players that play realplayer format? Or if it (the movie) can be downloaded in another format?

[toetoe]

Would love to see this footage rowena but i can't get the link to work.

[xstream]

Worked fine for me!
Nice clip Rowena, it certainly pulls away quickly.

[Exfso]

I cant get it to run either, apparently it requires Real Networks real player to get it to run??? :confused:

[toetoe]

I just get a blank sceen when i click on the link address :(

[Thiink]

A nice free alternative to installing Real Player (ugh) is to download Real Player Alternative (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/real_alternative.cfm), which uses the Real codec compiled into Media Player Classic.

There is also a Quicktime alternative that works great called, you guessed it, Quicktime Alternative (http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/quicktime_alternative.cfm). Great for those Kodak digital camera owners who like to take small videos with their cameras. :)

[toetoe]

Thanks for the links Thiink

[slice of heaven]

NASA grounded the shuttle fleet again today because of the insulation problem.
2 years and a stack of $$$$$$$ and their back to square one.
Atlantis' launch in September maybe delayed.

[asimov]

Oh Great! Nothing like grounding the whole fleet while one is still UP! :doh:

[RAJAH235]

Rowena, That link shows the Shuttle disengaging from the external tank, not the images from the chase 'plane. :D L.

[rowena]

this is the url that i found the link on....

http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/main/index.html?skipIntro=1


its on the right hand side of the page, under the heading 'What a view'
hope it helps!

[Thiink]

Direct link to the WMV from the chase plane is here (http://wm.nasa-global.speedera.net/wm.nasa-global/RTF/WB57.wmv) (streaming).

Would be awesome to see some cockpit video of the launch!

news.com.au had good launch footage, see it here (http://media01.news.com.au/video/Shuttle.wmv).

[ballaratdragons]

Live right NOW!!! Shuttle docking with ISS on SkyNews.

Quick turn the telly on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ballaratdragons]

This live coverage is excellent!!!!! Hope you can all see it!

[asimov]

Nope! not being telecast my end, damn it!

[Daring Dave]

Looks liek the space walk is LIVE on NASA Tv as I type....At least I think its live..

Check it out folks...

[ballaratdragons]

Can't. No good on dial-up!