Endeavour to the ISS (STS 127)

lord lucan

Endeavour had 2 unsuccessful fuelings(above limit hydrogen being vented) resulting in scrubs. They're confident problem is solved and it'll be go for launch july 11th.

Beeker

After the launch this Sunday morning at 00:39, Endeavour should be visible over the south of Ireland about 18 minutes later {clear skies hopefully} The ISS will also pass from west to southeast at 01:12. This is the time for Waterford, but you can get the times for your own area from NASA http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/skywatch.cgi?country=Ireland

Beeker

Launch delayed until 00:13 Monday morning 13 July. They had lightning strikes near the pad and they need time to investigate if any damage was done.

Ostrom

Hope it clears up by then, weather is rotten down here (Waterford)

Kevster

Delayed.... Ah damn, I was looking forward to it. They're really struggling to get these remaining flights off the ground arent they.

lord lucan

Great pic of a lightning strike on the tower on spaceflight now's front page.

http://spaceflightnow.com/

lord lucan

CBS have a timelapse video of the lightning strikes here:http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5152587n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Beeker

Kevster wrote: »

Delayed.... Ah damn, I was looking forward to it. They're really struggling to get these remaining flights off the ground arent they.

Well better safe than sorry!

Calibos

Weathers looking much better in Ireland for tonights launch lads. It actually may turn out to be lucky for us that the launch was delayed 24 hours.

Beeker

Calibos wrote: »

Weathers looking much better in Ireland for tonights launch lads. It actually may turn out to be lucky for us that the launch was delayed 24 hours.

Yeah watch the sky just before 00:30 it will be moving from the west towards the east. If we are lucky you should see the orbiter as a white dot just above an orange dot which will be the seperated external tank.



Looking good now to restart the count!

Kevster

...postponed? What the... ...? Am I hearing right?

lord lucan

Yep,thunderstorm within 20 mile range of KSC,reason enough to scrub. They'll have another go at it tomorrow. I feel sorry for the crew,2 previous scrubs and now having been strapped in they get scrubbed again!!

ynotdu

Beeker wrote: »

I have to agree that the STS system is a flawed design and has never operated to its full potential. It is however what we have and mistakes have been made. Hopefully moving into the future NASA will be able to develop a new system. Orion or something else to continue manned flights. It will never be safe and mistakes will be made in the future with further loss of life. That is the price of exploration.
Hopefull Endeavour launches soon but not on July 11 as planned because I would miss the launch. I pride myself on having seen or heard every shuttle launch live since the begining. First few live on RTE and then I used to hear live coverage on Voice Of America even while in school with a hidden earphone, until the advent of the Internet and NASA TV.
Godspeed STS-127

Hi Beeker.
thats quite a claim to fame that You followed all the Shuttle flights! I have a recording of the first Launch by Crippen and Young!(passed down to me by my farther!)

as it was the first launch NO journalist knew what to expect and as the rockets roared Leo Enright(covering for R.T.E)can be heard saying "Dublin can you hear me"?
The sheer noise of it I think scared him!:)


I am glad that nasa once again delayed the launch as i think we ALL feel the safety of the crew is paramount?
I am sure Endevour will launch with success!
in earlior posts I was Very critical of NASA,I stand by that.Nasa required a go from the solid rocket boosters manufacturors senior engineers,You proably know the story of when srb,s engineers said NO GO to Challenger,NASA gave them half hour to *reconsider*(veiled threat being srbs creators would never get a nasa contract again!
The last engineer to give a yes was asked by his wife"whats wrong with you?"to which he replied "I think i just voted to kill the Astronauts"

The Chairman of the board investigating Challenger demonstrated in one action(not pages&pages of reports) what happens if you drop rubber in freezing cold water,it mishapes!in the case of Challenger,the O rings mishaped from on the srb,s,propellant caught fire and burnt into the Liquid booster=no go at throttle-up:(

on a personal note it WILL be very sad the day the last shuttle flys:(
the extraordinary pilots who land the flying brick are sensational!!!!!

jumpguy

Wasn't Endeavour meant to be on back-up for Atlantis on STS-125? Some use it'd have been if there ever was a genuine emergency. :rolleyes:

Beeker

ynotdu wrote: »

Hi Beeker.
thats quite a claim to fame that You followed all the Shuttle flights! I have a recording of the first Launch by Crippen and Young!(passed down to me by my farther!)

as it was the first launch NO journalist knew what to expect and as the rockets roared Leo Enright(covering for R.T.E)can be heard saying "Dublin can you hear me"?
The sheer noise of it I think scared him!:)


I am glad that nasa once again delayed the launch as i think we ALL feel the safety of the crew is paramount?
I am sure Endevour will launch with success!
in earlior posts I was Very critical of NASA,I stand by that.Nasa required a go from the solid rocket boosters manufacturors senior engineers,You proably know the story of when srb,s engineers said NO GO to Challenger,NASA gave them half hour to *reconsider*(veiled threat being srbs creators would never get a nasa contract again!
The last engineer to give a yes was asked by his wife"whats wrong with you?"to which he replied "I think i just voted to kill the Astronauts"

The Chairman of the board investigating Challenger demonstrated in one action(not pages&pages of reports) what happens if you drop rubber in freezing cold water,it mishapes!in the case of Challenger,the O rings mishaped from on the srb,s,propellant caught fire and burnt into the Liquid booster=no go at throttle-up:(

on a personal note it WILL be very sad the day the last shuttle flys:(
the extraordinary pilots who land the flying brick are sensational!!!!!

Yeah I was 13 when STS-1 launched. We had no video recorder then so I recorded it on an old tape recorder. 2,3 and 5 were all shown live on TV BBC and RTE. STS-4 was a DOD flight so not live but I heard that on on Voice of America. All later flights I heard on Voice of America. STS 41-d the 12th flight on August 30 1984 I saw at the Kennedy Space Center, what a day, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. For the next few years it was all Voice of America until the advent of CNN and Sky news. I took time off work reorganised my life around the launches {Still do - Wife has lots of patience}. But the advent of the internet and NASA TV has changed everything, now we have indept coverage for hours at a time. Laptop conected to widescreen plasma, happy man! I then got over to Florida again last November for STS-126 Endeavour previous flight.
NASA have made big mistakes in the past and continue to do so today. The Challenger and Columbia crews should never have died. NASA managers should have been jailed for the way they pushed the schedule and ignored the warning signs. But you know they are just humans like the rest of us and mistakes are made, we must learn and moive on.
A very sad day for me when the Shuttle retires. It has been a big part of my life for the past 28 years and I fear its replacement "Orion" will not launch for some years to come.
Hopefully Endeavour gets off the ground tonight Monday. There is always something magical about watching people leave the planet!

lord lucan

Forecasting a 60% chance of a no go due to weather for tonight. Hopefully the weather co-operates and they get a go for launch.

Kevster

I'm a little confused here guys (no no, not in that way...!) - Is the launch due at 00:51 or 23:51? The whole EDT/EST GMT/IST (Irish Summer Time) is confusing.

Kevster

Kevster wrote: »

I'm a little confused here guys (no no, not in that way...!) - Is the launch due at 00:51 or 23:51? The whole EDT/EST GMT/IST (Irish Summer Time) is confusing.

23:51 (our time) I think. It's a bit confusing.

lord lucan

It's 23.51!! The countdown clock can be confusing cause there's various hold points were it is stopped.

Beeker

Launch off again until Wednesday 23:03 Irish time {22:03GMT / 18:03 EST}

lord lucan

Anymore delays and Endeavour could be threatening Columbia's 7 scrubs in '95!

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

Anymore delays and Endeavour could be threatening Columbia's 7 scrubs in '95!

STS 61C in 1986 also had 7 delays for Columbia

Kevster

Thanks for the updates guys. I was watching NASA TV for 5 minutes before I copped that it had been called off again!

lord lucan

Stay watching NASA tv,i stayed up last night and they showed the close out crew returning to the pad and getting the crew out. It was over an hour after the scrub was called before they opened the hatch,thats 7-8 hours over 2 days they've been strapped in and gone nowhere!

lord lucan

Beeker wrote: »

STS 61C in 1986 also had 7 delays for Columbia

Cheers,i'd forgotten that one.:cool:

Ostrom

lord lucan wrote: »

Stay watching NASA tv,i stayed up last night and they showed the close out crew returning to the pad and getting the crew out. It was over an hour after the scrub was called before they opened the hatch,thats 7-8 hours over 2 days they've been strapped in and gone nowhere!

The radio chatter is interesting

Kevster

Anyone confirm the times for the next launch opportunity? Is it 23:03 our time on WEdnesday?

Edit: Sorry, some guy mentioned it a few posts up!

ynotdu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0OmJFFQp50

ynotdu

Beeker wrote: »

Yeah I was 13 when STS-1 launched. We had no video recorder then so I recorded it on an old tape recorder. 2,3 and 5 were all shown live on TV BBC and RTE. STS-4 was a DOD flight so not live but I heard that on on Voice of America. All later flights I heard on Voice of America. STS 41-d the 12th flight on August 30 1984 I saw at the Kennedy Space Center, what a day, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. For the next few years it was all Voice of America until the advent of CNN and Sky news. I took time off work reorganised my life around the launches {Still do - Wife has lots of patience}. But the advent of the internet and NASA TV has changed everything, now we have indept coverage for hours at a time. Laptop conected to widescreen plasma, happy man! I then got over to Florida again last November for STS-126 Endeavour previous flight.
NASA have made big mistakes in the past and continue to do so today. The Challenger and Columbia crews should never have died. NASA managers should have been jailed for the way they pushed the schedule and ignored the warning signs. But you know they are just humans like the rest of us and mistakes are made, we must learn and moive on.
A very sad day for me when the Shuttle retires. It has been a big part of my life for the past 28 years and I fear its replacement "Orion" will not launch for some years to come.
Hopefully Endeavour gets off the ground tonight Monday. There is always something magical about watching people leave the planet!

Hi Beeker,thanks for reply!can I just say i HATE you that ya saw two launchs in the flesh:D:D
I was wondering,Why had some sts flight numbers have a letter after them,STS41d for instance?
for me really the shuttle programme finished with the last hubble repair mission:mad:.I was sick at the time so I could watch hours of the five spacewalks.the banter between the astronauts and mission control was really hilarious at times(there was a real end of term sense around and the impish comments made to mc were of a nature i had never heard before!bit of a" so sack me" athmosphere,in a nice way.most of them knew they,d not fly again.As they were carrying out one of the many improvisations on that flight and discussion was back&forth between the astronauts and control as to the best way to tackle a problem a bemused flight director said in a mock exasperated tone "Ah do what you like":)
I wont repeat one exchange between a spacewalker and the female astronaut controling the robot arm when she spoke to him about the tether between his legs!:D
have you read the goals of the next eight?not exactly fire the imagination:mad:(although Endevours payload i DO appreciate the importance of)after that there is no payload that could not be delivered in some other manner,and we all know if any major incident should happen the fleet will be retired before the next seven.

I agree with you that Orion is years away!
i dont know how long a delay there was between the last mercury flight and the first Gemini???or the last Gemini and first Apollo????(the Apollo 1 fire must have caused a long delay???)
Then between 1972 and 1981 there was nothing except the apollo/soyuz nonsense and the three shoddy Skylab missions:(

I agree with you also about there being something speciol about humans leaving the Earth,i am always amazed at how little interest most people have in spaceflight(imagine going your whole life without ever getting a sense of wonderment at the cosmos

On top of that they would call posters here geeky eccentric nerds,fcuk them!:D
cheers

P.S does anybody know what happened to the shuttle that never got into space?(Enterprise)in a meuseam?stripped down for parts? regards
,

Beeker

ynotdu wrote: »

Hi Beeker,thanks for reply!can I just say i HATE you that ya saw two launchs in the flesh:D:D
I was wondering,Why had some sts flight numbers have a letter after them,STS41d for instance?

A stupid idea that came in in after STS-9 in 1983. First digit was the NASA finincial year, second digit launch site 1=Kennedy space center, 2 = Vandenburg in California {never used as it happened} and third digit was the sequence the launch was planned. So Challengers last flight was STS- 51L Launch was scheduled to be in 1985 from KSC and would have been the 12 that year. As it happened 51L was the second of 1986. The flights were always getting delayed brought forward or cancelled, so the system was not workable. It was changed back after the Challenger disaster and the next to fly was STS-26 in 1988.

ynotdu wrote: »

for me really the shuttle programme finished with the last hubble repair mission:mad:.I was sick at the time so I could watch hours of the five spacewalks.the banter between the astronauts and mission control was really hilarious at times(there was a real end of term sense around and the impish comments made to mc were of a nature i had never heard before!bit of a" so sack me" athmosphere,in a nice way.most of them knew they,d not fly again.As they were carrying out one of the many improvisations on that flight and discussion was back&forth between the astronauts and control as to the best way to tackle a problem a bemused flight director said in a mock exasperated tone "Ah do what you like":)
I wont repeat one exchange between a spacewalker and the female astronaut controling the robot arm when she spoke to him about the tether between his legs!:D

Yeah the banter can be great at times, mostly because they know the only people listening are those who are interested, even the media dont pay attention any more. The Hubble repair flight was an end of an era as you say. It was the last of the classic Shuttle flights. It was also the last time a spacewalk would take place from the shuttle. All future Shuttle spacewalks will take place from the airlock on the station.

ynotdu wrote: »

have you read the goals of the next eight?not exactly fire the imagination:mad:(although Endevours payload i DO appreciate the importance of)after that there is no payload that could not be delivered in some other manner,and we all know if any major incident should happen the fleet will be retired before the next seven.

They are all standard Space Station construction flights. No big exciting events scheduled but still I will follow each with as much interest as all the rest.

ynotdu wrote: »

I agree with you that Orion is years away!
i dont know how long a delay there was between the last mercury flight and the first Gemini???or the last Gemini and first Apollo??%3