Discovery in Orbit!

DIscovery blasted off on time at 7:43 pm EST and has reached orbit. Mission STS-119 will deliver the final set of giant solar arrays to the ISS and switch out one of the station's crew. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata will remain on board for about 6 months, while astronaut Sandy Magnus will come home with the STS-119 crew. Kawata will be the first Japanese member of the space station crew, currently Expedition 18.  

The new power panels will allow the station to finally reach its intended crew of 6.  

Shuttle Launch on track!

Space Shuttle Discovery is on the pad, ready to launch this evening at about 5:43 pm Mountain time. So far so good, everything seems to be proceeding as normal. I've started using NASA's own Launch Blog, found on the NASA website, which gives frequent updates from the launch control room as the countdown continues. You can find the link normally under the Multimedia tab and the blog subheading.  Or, just look for the main feature blog announcement on the front page!

You can also watch NASA TV live from the NASA site, or if you DISH or cable, you probably have a channel set to NASA TV.

I was worried earlier this week that I wouldn't be able to watch the launch live, since I had to work at the CMSEC during the initially scheduled launch, but due to the seemingly inevitable launch scrubs and delays, it looks like I should see the launch fine today. Unless there's another glitch.

120th ISS Spacewalk Complete

Astronauts Mike Fincke and Yury Lonchakov made the 120th spacewalk in support of space station assembly and maintenance yesterday. The activity lasted about 4 hours and 49 minutes. They set out a space experiment, prepared the Pirs airlock docking mechanism for docking with any future Soyuz or Progress vehicle arrivals, and took photos of the station exterior. These photos will be used to help engineers understand how the equipment is holding up in the harsh environment of space over the last decade.

I was able to listen to most of the spacewalk transmissions during the event. I was happy to see that FoxNews covered the event live on their internet channels. Of course, NASA always broadcasts such events live from their website. Most people would probably find the broadcasts boring, but I'm such a space nerd that it's all fascinating for me. I did notice how some of the station's exterior sections are beginning to discolor over time. It will be interesting to follow this up over time and learn which materials are prone to do that.

The NASA picture above shows the two spacewalkers in action. They are both using the Russian cosmonaut spacesuit designs.  Both astronauts have been on board ISS since October, and are due to return to Earth in April. They will be coming home using the Soyuz capsule currently docked to ISS.

Kepler and STS-119 Updates

Kepler launched successfully aboard its Delta II launch vehicle Friday night. The blast off was on time, and no glitches or delays were reported. Nice for a NASA success after the failure of the launch of their global warming satellite earlier this month.

Shuttle Discovery awaits launch on its pad for take-off scheduled March 11. This will be a night launch, at 9:20 p.m. EST. The astronauts arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday and preparations are going forward on schedule.

Kepler Launch tonight!

The Kepler observatory sits atop a Delta II rocket at the Kennedy Space Center, ready for its launch tonight at about 10:49 EST. It's likely NASA TV will broadcast the launch live, as this is a fairly notably project. Kepler's mission is to spend over 3 years studying a specific section of our galaxy studying each suspect star very closely- for Earth-like planets!

Tonight's launch takes place from Complex 17-B, which launched its first Thor missile way back in 1957. Historical launches from this complex have included the Explorer and Pioneer satellites, and one of my favorites, Solar Max. The LC-17 complex (pads A and B) are operated by Air Force 45th Space Wing. The picture above shows the first stage of a Delta II rocket being lifted into position at the mobile service tower on pad 17-B.

Good Luck, Kepler!  

Close Calls

Whew! That was close!

Looks like Earth narrowly avoided tragedy this week as a rocky chunk squeeked by our planet. Supposedly about 35 meters in diameter,  it passed over the Pacific at its closest encounter. Apparently astronomers only detected this beastie only 3 days before its passage. Some scientists have claimed this was the size of the object that detonated above Siberia in 1908 causing massive devastation to the Tunguska forest. Speculation that, I say, as we have no evidence of what that was... Needless to say, though, (and I'll say it!) if this thing HAD hit a populated area there could have been terrific destruction.  I''ll pass. Oh wait, it did... ; )

NOW I've checked spaceweather.com and it seems another rock goes by the Earth tomorrow (Mar. 6th)! Smaller, this one, at about 25 meters. Farther away, too. it will pass by at about 0.9 Lunar distance (lunar distance = 240,000 miles). Still, that's pretty close as far as NEO's go (Near Earth Object).

Somebody out there got closer with their aim...

50 YA: Discoverer I & Pioneer IV

This entry covers two satellite launches from Fifty Years Ago. On February 28, 1959, the Air Force launched Discoverer I into a polar orbit on a Thor-Agena A booster from the Pacific Missile Range. Evidently there was trouble tracking the 1,450 pound satellite. Well, it was the early days, after all.

Then on March 1, 1959, Pioneer IV was launched on a Juno II rocket into a solar orbit. A NASA directed project, this satellite had an interesting path to orbit- they launched it on a trajectory so that it actually passed within 37,000 miles of the moon before reaching orbit around the sun. They managed to keep in radio contact out to some 406,000 miles away. It was the first US Satellite to orbit the sun. This satellite was the fourth in the series of projects for the International Geophysical Year series. The picture above is shows how Pioneer 3 and 4 looked.