Shuttle Discovery, Take Two

[mabfan]

(This post may look familiar...but there are a few differences.)

If all goes well today (and please, God, let it all go well today), at 10:39 AM EDT the space shuttle Discovery will launch, returning NASA's shuttle program to space after over two years of being grounded since the Columbia tragedy. I remember watching in 1989 when Discovery returned us to space after the Challenger tragedy. I was in college at the time, and I saw the launch on a television set in the Science Center, if I recall correctly. If I can, I'll be watching again today.

Good luck and Godspeed to
Commander Eileen Collins
Pilot James Kelly
Mission Specialist Charles Camarda
Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence
Mission Specialist Soichi Noguchi
Mission Specialist Steve Robinson
Mission Specialist Andy Thomas

Take us back to where we belong...and then please return safely home.

(Link: NASA's Return to Flight Page)

Comments

[arib.livejournal.com]

I'm streaming it.

www.nasa.gov/ntv

you can stream video or audio.

[bluepapercup]

I will be watching it here at work on the computer.

My heart is in my throat already.

[saxikath]

I'm watching the NASA TV feed today too.

[sdelmonte]

Watching it, waiting, holding my breathe.

[rev69.livejournal.com]

I remember January 28, 1986. i was sitting in Mr Guarracino's Physics class early from lunch waiting for class to begin. In comes Damian Braiterman with this wide grin on his face and tells me what happened. I thought for sure he was joking. Then my lab partner, David Sakowitz comes in and backs up his story. I thought for sure it was a conspiracy to exploit my mild history of gullibility. I refused to believe even Mr G when he entered the room a couple of minutes later. It was only when Vice-Principal Dr. Glick announced over the P.A. system that the shuttle "ex-PLO-ded" that I started to believe.

Still to this day, one of my most vivid Hunter memories.

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

Got the NASA TV feed, and have the DVR running at home.

Between this and finding out that Honeybee Robotics put pieces of the WTC into the Rock Abrasion Tools on the MER rovers (thanks to reading Steve Squyres' book), it's been an interesting day to be a space program follower. :)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I need to get that book.

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

I just finished part one, which covers the project's inception up to when MER is green-lit by NASA, but you are one of the few people I know would LOVE this book.

I've garnered a whole new level of respect for the crew that was responsible for the decade plus of perseverence it took to get Spirit and Opportunity off the ground.

And, in an intriguing cosmic coincidence, Spirit is currently working in and around Husband Hill. :)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I'm missing something. Do you have a story with a scene set near Husband Hill?

[arib.livejournal.com]

So far, so good.