T-3 hours 28 Minutes

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

for all you not luck enough to be there

T-35 mins 20 secs .. and counting

for all you unlucky enough to be here ..

it's gone 6am and I have the 5.1 up full ..

stuff the neighbours .

Lets be here together .. and enjy

T-25mins20secs and counting

well clean !! full green !!

we gone .. bye bye !

Blast off!!!

I stopped paying attention, flipped to another tab, then later heard the countdown with a few seconds, tabbed back as fast as I could, and missed it.

The Internet view was about 30 sec. behind the TV broadcast.

If only NASA had some kind of clock or timer to let you know when it'd be...

It was kind of a fluke that I went. I had a friend from out of state visiting who wanted to go and as typical, "she-who-lives-45 minutes-from-launch-site" had never been. (Of course I could see the smoke plume from my back porch).

Anyway, we did go...bitterly cold night ... and splurged on "VIP tickets" which allowed us up on some rooftop of a building at The Kennedy Space Center. What was really awesome was "seeing" the amazingly brilliant glow as the rocket boosters fired and the craft lifted, about 45 seconds to a minute BEFORE hearing (then "feeling" it.

I've been to The Space Center, but not for a launch. It is an amazing place, just seeing the Saturn V display had me awestruck. They have a new Shuttle Launch simulator that I definitely want to try, maybe this summer. A good friend of mine went to High School on Satellite Beach, and was on a class trip the day Challenger went up for the last time.

I worked for Lockheed-Martin (Martin-Marietta) in the '90s on the external tank project in New Orleans. My daughter works there now. She actually works on the tanks.

I was in facilities and supported tank construction but didn't actually touch the external fuel tank.

"CX"

The most awesome thing about the Saturn V is when you see this tiny little capsule at the top of this huge rocket where the astronauts had to sit... these guys really had balls!

I slept though this every bit as much as I slept through that earthquake we had in England last week. Except I was awake during the earthquake and didn't feel a thing.

My parents took us when we were kids.

That was before the space shuttle was invented.

It was still pretty neat. My brother got a metal moon globe that he ended up putting DIY craters on in the driveway.

QFT!

I don't know if it's still there...but I rode this simulator where you saw what looked like the launch as the astronauts would...and then at various times turned completely upside down. Loving rollercoasters and thrill rides, I thought this was fabulous.

The cool thing was....the simulator itself was totally closed in....BUT....there was a closed circuit camera inside so those friends/relatives/bystanders could stand outside and watch the expressions on the faces of those of us *in* the simulator!!!

If you don't live close to Florida, you can also visit Huntsville, AL with many of the same displays and also Houston, TX. Both have space flight musemums. I have been to all three and the Cape in Florida is the best followed by Huntsville.

"CX"

Cool night launch - not the first in ten years, though...I seem to remember a night launch in 2005 or 2006, Atlantis I think.

They're working on Dexter, the manipulator to go on the end of the Canada arm.

Two astronauts out in space, nice camera shots.

Would seem strange that whilst this marvelous and somewhat dangerous technology brings so many benefits to mankind, that we now take it for granted. In fact, it is potentially only hilighted in our lives, when someone dies.. then there is a human outcry.

What is perhaps scarey, is the Saturn 5 rockets that took men to the moon and back, had around the same computing power as many of todays watches.

... allegedly.....

I love the scene in "Apollo13" where they had to change their trajectory for reentry. They were punching numbers into the primitive computer and what not, but in the end, they had to manually fly the ship to line it up. Same with Apollo 11, the computer failed on the Lander and Buzz Aldrin had to land manually, just as the fuel was running out.

Ahh A Luddite playing SL?? Amazing.

Cheers "CX"

Ee: "Allegedly" my sweet behind. Anyone who thinks the space program is some kind of vast conspiracy theory probably is also a flat-earth nutcase.

Oh...in SL, the world IS flat. Never mind...

Back to the Space Center...if anyone goes, be sure to visit the memorial to the astronauts who have died in exploring the new frontier. It brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes.

QFT!

I remember so clearly all the details around me the morning the Challenger exploded on take off. It was such a bitterly cold morning. My husband called to ask if I'd heard the news (I hadn't as I didn't have the TV or radio on at home). I rushed outside and from my back deck could see that smoke trail (I'm sure there's a more scientific name for it) that split in two lingering up in the sky.

And then the whole excitement about the "First Teacher in Space" perishing in that tragedy - with school children tuned in to watch this memorable launch.

Those are the kinds of images I get when I've visited the memorial.

that's my pet hate about the media. everyone who died on that flight had a equally horrific death, whether pilot, teacher, male or female. The female teachers death wasn't any more horrific than the rest.