Discovery ready for launch on Tonight

[JonathanBelles]

Discovery's launch remains on track for 1:36 a.m. EDT Tuesday for its 13-day mission to the International Space Station.

At today's Countdown Status Briefing held at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA Test Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson was pleased to report that all countdown preparations are on schedule and looking forward to a great launch.

"In this business there are few sites as beautiful as a nighttime launch," said Blackwell-Thompson. "And I expect this to be a spectacular site as Discovery roars to life early Tuesday morning and lights up the night sky."

STS-128 Payload Manager Joe Delai applauded the immense amount of work done by a great team to prepare the payload for delivery by Discovery and its crew.

"We're very excited about this mission," said Delai. "We're going to support a six crew capability both from a cargo and storage point of view -- we'll also be bringing up some good science racks so we can keep doing some good work up in space and for us folks here on Earth."

Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters reported that the forecast for launch time is holding at a 70 percent chance of favorable weather for liftoff and fueling. There only a slight concern of possible storms moving into the area before tanking begins.

Keeping to an early-morning launch schedule, Discovery’s crew went to bed at 7 a.m. and will be awakened at 3 p.m. They will undergo standard medical examinations this afternoon.

Tune in to the next Countdown Status Briefing being aired on NASA TV, Sunday at 2 p.m. EDT.
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If I dont fall asleep and weather permits, I will have pictures of this launch from the West Coast. Should be a very good launch.

[JonathanBelles]

The chances of a launch have dropped to 40% due to storms off the east coast.

[brunota2003]

Well, attempt one was scrubbed due to weather, and tonight's attempt was scrubbed due to a bad valve!

The earliest the next launch will be attempted Friday at the earliest, and if they don't launch by the end of this weekend, it will be in October.

This works out perfectly for me! I'm supposed to be in the Orlando area from Friday evening through Sunday morning ^^ And I have never seen a shuttle launch in person, this will be my only chance.

[JonathanBelles]

Lets hope they keep the night launch.

[JonathanBelles]

All 10 flags are green tonight for launch. Weather is clear, and technical issues have been resolved.

[JonathanBelles]

Overnight, the Flight Control Team reported the failure of one of two small steering jets that flank the orbiter nose due to a leak. This will have no impact to docking, other mission activities or entry, but the crew will close a manifold to isolate both jets and disable them from use for the remainder of the mission.

[brunota2003]

I got to go to the coast and see the launch! There was a storm producing lightning about 15 miles or so off the coast, and I was lined up so the launch pad was almost directly in line with the storm...was pretty cool!