STS119 Discovery Launch

[sheeny]

NASA has set a time for the launch of STS119 Space Shuttle Discovery. By my calculations it should be 11:54am next Friday the 13th AEDT.

I have updated the event calendar, but I'd appreciate someone doing a check on my time conversion.:P Launch time is 8:54pm EDT on March 12 (US Eastern time).

Worth watching if you can get onto NASA TV http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html :D.

Al.

[badchap]

yep- that time is same as I make it.. their daylight saving starts this weekend, and ours is still going, so that makes AEDT 15 hours ahead of EDT. (for another 4 weeks or so, anyway)

I really wish they would include at least UT in their schedules. Most people from all around the globe with an interest in this stuff would likely be able to easily convert their own local time zone to UT.

[badchap]

That date is still subject to change, and seems it is a matter of 'watch this space'..they seem to be considering a launch before that, if they finish their flight readiness meetings all happy with their valves and such.
I find the nasaspaceflight.com site a great resource- really helpful.


http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/03/progress-made-towards-sts-119-flight-rationale-march-11-net-possible/

[astroron]

I make it 13:45 on Saturday Queensland time if the time is 22:45 American Eastern Time on Friday.

[sheeny]

Thanks for the checks guys!

The launch has now been brought forward: Thursday 12:20pm AEDT.

Al.

[sherm]

I guess you've got the conversion worked out, but this may b of help to someone:
US Eastern Standard Time zone is 5 hours west of the Greenwich meridian (UT). i.e. EST = UT minus 5h EDT = UT minus 4h
or if you like EST + 5h = UT and EDT + 4h = UT

8:45 p.m. EDT March 12
= 20:45 EDT March 12
= 00:45 UT March 13

I live in the Atlantic Time Zone (one time zone east of Cape Canaveral, New York and Boston); we are 4 hours west of the Greenwich Meridian
AST +4h = UT
ADT +3h = UT

We, in Canada have conformed to the influence of USA's recent adoption of an earlier date for switching to Daylight Time, so we will awaken to DT March 8th this year.

Occasionally if the sky is clear we get to see the last stages of the STS launches to the ISS. When conditions are favourable, what we see comes into view about 11 minutes after blast off from Florida. Nova Scotia is north and a bit east of Florida so the insertion orbit track parallels our Atlantic coastline.
Sherm

[Kevnool]

Must check with Orbitron whether oz will get a piggyback pass this time around.
Cheers Kev.

[badchap]

The countdown started already, and the weather forecast is looking good.

[damo_Melbourne]

I was lucky enough to see Columbia launch in 1997 STS-94 - absolutley amazing, hairs on the back of your neck stuff when the count down ticks away.
Then at main engine start you still hear nothing as you're so far away.
You can see it but no sound! I wasnt prepared for that
Its not until it starts to climb very slowly that the rolling wave of thunder envelopes you.

I was standing next to a guy that had flown over from England 9 times for various missions to see the launch and every time it had been aborted. He had never seen one actually launch. He was so happy he was in tears.

I still get a buzz watching it on TV!

[Spanrz]

I'm the same as you damo.
Though I haven't seen it yet (a launch), it will be as said by Darth Vader "It is your destiny".....

Though I have always sat up (where possible) to watch the re-entry phase.
For us Melburnians and Taswegians, we can see it re-enter, but it's a case of everthing has to be right. No clouds, not much crap in the air, ra ra ra, as it appears around 5 degrees off the horizon.

What I don't see on the ascent, I see on the descent. :)

[Octane]

Damo,

You are so lucky. It is my dream to experience a launch. Is there anything special you have to do like buying tickets or do you just rock up?

Regards,
Humayun

[damo_Melbourne]

Hi Humayun,

You just rock up but you need tickets for Kennedy center itself

The big problem is timing.

We were really lucky we had to change our plans somewhat as the launch was delayed a day due to storms over Houston. On launch the shuttle does a roll and over to Houston - it gets there real fast! and they are absolutely paranoid about lightning strikes

We stayed in Kissimmee which is not far from Orlando and you book a bus trip out to the site. You just pull up with thousands of people that line the shore. There are regulars, people having picnics a real family type event.

Launch pad 39A is way in the distance but you get a direct feed from launch control of the count down over the speakers. Everyone knows that there are hold points and once it gets past that then all systems are ok till the next point and so on and the excitement goes up a huge amount - you can feel it. The guy that I was standing next to was yelling and screaming when it got past one of these points (16secs or so - could be wrong on that )as in 9 visits it never had.
I'm in IT so I was interested in what was going on from an IT point of view and there are in incredible number of system checks all going on and verifying the status with the various computer systems then they must all be confirmed with a master computer. If any system reports an anomally or error then there is a hold. So as you can imagine by main engine start I was in heaven!

Literally everyone held their breath then cheered but still no sound from the pad yet......you can see this amazing explosion of exhaust but nothing ( well not over over the roar of the crowds! and the breeze may have added to that). then it hits you like rolling thunder. The "power" of the sound is what everyone there talked about.
Ive never heard anything like it
you can do a tour of Kennedy itself.. I managed to hold a piece of shuttle tile that had just had a blow touch on the other side of it a few seconds before - it was normal room temp to touch on the other side. Little did I know at that point how important these tiles would be in future missions!
Love to hear from someone who has been recently and their experiences - my trip was 12 years ago and its like it happened yesterday!

One of the best things I have every seen - the only thing that would beat it is a night launch!

[sheeny]

Today's launch has been postponed tentatively till tomorrow Friday 13 at 11:54 AEDT.

Al.

[badchap]

This website here has some great info about launch viewing, and places to view launches outside of NASA sites.
http://www.launchphotography.com/Shuttle_Launch_Viewing.html

There are site around the vicinity that many people go to to see a launch, but to get onto the causeway that is the closest area that the public can view from, you cannot just rock up - you need tickets.
NASA sells launch tickets as mission specific, meaning that you buy tickets for that mission and if it gets postponed you still have tickets for that launch (Not the date).
Could be tricky if you live a long way away and have tickets for something like the upcoming Atlantis launch for the Hubble mission ! That one has been delayed over the months.

NASA causeway tickets for a particular mission go on sale about 4 to 6 weeks before a scheduled launch, and are usually sold out within a couple of minutes, but there is also a tourism company that also have an allocated number of tickets for sale, and although they're more expensive they are available for a bit longer than those 2 minutes :)

[badchap]

Yet another launch time now as
March 15 at 7.43 pm EDT

= Monday 16th March 10.43 am AEDT

[damo_Melbourne]

thanks Badchap... apols I stand corrected on that.
We were on a bus tour out to the site so our tix would have been included in that.

cheers

[badchap]

I wonder if that bus tour was the Greyline Tours that get allocated the NASA tickets ?

I can't tell you how envious I am that you've witnessed a launch.

The family and I will be in Florida in May, and for the last year and a half I've read up a bit about launch viewing, and checked NASA shuttle mission site and other sites such as nasaspaceflight.com almost every day or two !

The uncertainty is quite a bit of torture - I know I can't really plan a holiday and rely on launch dates, but then again, I didn't want to ignore any likely targeted launch dates when I was booking air tickets etc.

I have decided to ultimately go with the attitude that at least we're likely to see the shuttle on the launch pad when we're there, so as not to be too disappointed - if our week in FL coincides with Atlantis launch, then all the better.

(if this current mission is delayed much later than March, then whichever the next launch is, it will probably be pushed back to June)

[gregbradley]

I've seen one from a distance - 120kms. Impressive. I have also seen the smoke trail in the sky in the morning after a night launch - weird seeing it kind of go up into space.

Kennedy Space Centre is a very interesting tourist spot all by itself. It has the original moon mission control intact and the lunar lander etc. Also a Saturn V rocket on its side on the ground. A really solid rocket, big thick steel tubes.

Greg.

[damo_Melbourne]

Hi Badchap,

Well if you do manage to get there and I really hope you do this is what you will see or better described this is what you will "feel". You should still be able to walk thru one of the Shuttles which they had on display.

Thought you might like to see!

Attached are shots of Shuttle Columbia racing skywards in 1997.

cheers
Damian

[iceman]

Incredible photos, thanks for sharing!

Discovery is set to lift off in about 5.5 hours - about 10:44am AEDST.

Tanks are fuelled and ready to go!

[Octane]

Congratulations NASA for a successful launch!

Just watched it at work with my colleagues.

Spine tingling stuff. :)

Regards,
Humayun

[badchap]

Fantastic - Thanks Damian !

[badchap]

Great stuff !

Nice time of day as far as the view goes, too :)

I had it on NASA tv for some of it, but also watched pay - tv news channel.
(nasa tv seems to be about a minute and a bit behind the normal television news broadcast)

[matt]

That was great!

I wonder what time the docking is scheduled for (Oz time) ?

[JethroB76]

I think it is 8:15 am Wednesday

[AdrianF]

Tried to watch from work but NASA site is blocked as it "matches the multimedia sharing category" All I got was a black square on the screen.

Damn
Adrian

[erick]

I also couldn't see the live NASA TV, but have found the launch on Youtube already! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSWi7qZ1I7c

[Astro78]

That was GREAT :eyepop:

It accelerated much faster than I was expecting.

I wonder when it's docking too Matt - and who's going to try for the pics??

[AdrianF]

UTube blocked aswell :(. Bloddy govt PC's will have to wait until I get home.


Adrian

[cookie8]

There will be a -2.2 mag ISS with Discovery flyby visiable in Sydney on 20th March pre-dawn. Weather forecast: fine. Not to be missed!!:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Thanks Vincent! Definitely one not to miss!

This is also cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdkhNRcCfRw&feature=channel_page

The crew on the ISS watch the launch from orbit!

[erick]

Good to see that the ISS occupants don't have a block on NASA TV :P