Space Shuttle's "Return to Flight"
 

Complete coverage of NASA's Return to Flight mission (STS-114) with the Space Shuttle Discovery is available at www.nasa.gov or at the Return to Flight page at: http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/main/index.html. Or, you can watch NASA-TV on certain cable/satellite systems (like I'm watching with DIRECTV) and NASA-TV can also be streamed live from NASA's Web site.

NASA's Space Shuttle Flies Again!
10:39 a.m. Eastern Time (7:39 a.m. Pacific Time)
The thunderous sound of applause and rocket engines erupted across Kennedy Space Center, Fla., as Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Launch Pad 39B for NASA's Return to Flight mission. Commanded by Eileen Collins and carrying an international crew of seven astronauts, the Space Shuttle soared over the Atlantic Ocean as it left Florida's eastern shores and climbed into the sky. Discovery is on a 12-day flight to deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station. The STS-114 mission comes after a two and a half year initiative to reinforce the orbiters and improve the safety of the Space Shuttle fleet.

With the clearing of the launch pad tower and Discovery in orbit, the vehicle and its crew now begins the two-day chase to rendezvous with the International Space Station.

I was just about to post this. I got in the car and turned on the radio at T-10 to launch. I wish I had remembered so I could have stayed inside the apartment and watched it live, but listening to the whole thing was kinda fun.

I'm waiting for full video of the launch to hit the internet. I found a short video of the 30 seconds or so leading up to the separation of the solid fuel boosters, but aparantly, with the addition of scores of cameras to keep an eye out for debris damage, for the first time they broadcast the separation of the main engines from space. I'd love to see that.

Damn. They've got a longer video here that starts from blast off, but it still stops just after the solid boosters separate.

That was exceptionally cool.

I suppose I am like a lot of Americans - the Shuttle program had become old news and not interesting enough to watch the launch. I watched with tremendous interest this morning, sadly because of concern for the safety of the astronauts. My heart skipped a beat as the two externals broke away.

I hope that serious effort and budgets are put forth to replace the shuttle soon. While it certainly was a great program, the tech is a quarter century old (granted, many systems have been upgraded over time).

I have watched a few specials lately on the History Channel regarding the history of jet aviation and the test pilots that had "the right stuff". I am all for safety, don't get me wrong, but there is an inherant risk in testing new things, and it doesn't seem as if America as a whole has the guts for risk any longer. I am certain there are still pilots who would love to test new tech, and probably do all the time under secrecy for military applications. I guess I just find it sad that after true tragedies such as the Columbia it has taken 2.5 years to make another effort. How long after the Apollo 1 accident (where the astronauts burned to death during a drill) did it take for another try? I'm not sure, but I'm certain it wasn't anywhere near 2.5 years.

I hope that soon we have something new, and that if we experience another tragedy in our efforts in space that it does not limit or kill the spirit to continue trying.

Hats off to the crew of the Discovery. God speed.

Sweeet, MSNBC finally has the full video up. Watching the shuttle perform its final roll maneuver, and then watching as the main engines/fuel tank fall away was spectacular! At least some good has come out of the tragic deaths of the Columbia crew, these new cameras are already bringing some new, fascinating views.

As for the time after an accident, it's a cumulative thing that probably can't be reversed. With each accident comes new safety measures and more complexity. And with more complexity comes more need for investigation and careful planning to implement even newer safety measures. At this point, the shuttles are right at the envelope. Every tiny bit of extra weight, extra expense, or change in shape needs to be scrutinized for its effect on the whole package. You can't just slap a quick fix on. Not so much because the quick fix won't solve the problem, but because the quick fix won't fit into the exacting specifications. Extra equipment means extra fuel. How much extra fuel, and can the tank hold it? And when does it become cost prohibitive? And does it require reconfiguring the launch tower? Etc., etc., etc. It's the unfortunate side effect of the complexity of the machine, not so much fear.

As a child of the 60's and the dream to "live" in space, this sentence really made my heart skip a beat:
Future is now.

To an extent you're right. But the shuttle accident 2.5 years ago DID lead to fears about the safety of the entire shuttle and space program, leading to an entire overhaul of the safety and systems of checks within NASA. It didn't take 2.5 years to solve the problem of insulation falling off the booster and hitting the heat shield tiles

I think the entire shuttle program has been cost prohibitive for quite a while. It's time for something new. And I think the attitude of the country as a whole is such that new things can be too risky, and no one wants to take the heat for an accident. I just find that attitude to be sad and counterproductive. Discovery and exploration are risky and it is impossible to take the risks out. There comes a point at which the attempted elimination of risk becomes counter productive. If the attitude that exists today existed during the Apollo missions, we would not have landed on the moon.

I walked outside at 10:30-whatever and looked up and east. Giant fireball in the sky moving suprisingly fast. Now that was cool.

WOW! That's REALLY cool!

I've been to Cape Canaveral and visited the Space Center, but there was nothing going on. No shuttle in sight, just the huge land crawler they use to transport it to the gantry. I've never even had the opportunity to get up to Edwards to see one land, let alone witness a launch first hand. It's on my long list of spectacles I really hope to see.