[curiousuburb]

Countdown proceeding for scheduled launch today at 14:28 EST (1928 GMT).



Preview story here

Live coverage on NASA TV a few hours before scheduled liftoff.

In their latest forecast issued this morning, meteorologists are predicting a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather conditions at today's 2:28 p.m. EST launch opportunity. The outlook includes some scattered low clouds at 4,000 feet, good visibility, launch pad winds from the north at 10 peaking to 15 knots and a temperature of 76 degrees F. "A low pressure system approximately 600 nautical miles east of Florida will linger for several days. A high pressure ridge is established over the area, and no significant weather is expected in the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) area for the next couple of days. Winds will start from the northwest today and veer to the northnortheast through the day. The only concern for launch is a chance for a low cloud ceiling due to a low-level inversion expected over KSC. Our primary concern for launch is a low cloud ceiling.

Originally set to be the 6th last launch of a Shuttle, I'm betting the Augustine Commission report will mean there are some additional flights added until alternatives (commercial or other) are clearly identified and plausible.

Go Atlantis!

[curiousuburb]

Inside 30 minutes to scheduled liftoff.

Weather and all systems GO.

[turtle]

I need a link to watch it! I'm actually home for the day though I might be on the roof assessing the damage our little storm caused if the roofer gets here on time.

[curiousuburb]

http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx

Works in QT if you've got the right codecs...

2 minutes to liftoff

[jdcfsu]

Beautiful launch. I didn't get into the NASA tweetup but it was clear enough to see from my front yard! Here's a video from my iPhone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-crAa3Y8Yk

[curiousuburb]

Looked pretty clean from a debris standpoint, but briefing to come may provide more detail.

[Moogs]

Never gets old, does it?

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html#

[curiousuburb]

Hmmm...

Bill Gerstenmeier at the Post-Launch Briefing said they've got 6 tanks and sets of SRBs left.

5 planned flights and a 'Contingency Rescue' stack in case there's a problem on the last launch.

He wouldn't be led on the question of using the Contingency tank and SRBs for a 6th flight if requested.

And he said that tank and SRB processing have already been ramped down and would take 2.5 to 3 years to restart and certify any new SRB or ET... so even if they wanted more, there would be a significant gap.

[turtle]

I was late for the launch. I got it up on my daughters computer finally after it had just cleared the tower. I still got to see a fair bit of it but the roofer showed up just after booster separation.

It never get old.

[PKIDelirium]

Stupid Russian computers.

For the second night in a row, a false depressurization alarm woke the Atlantis astronauts and their space station colleagues Friday night, tripping two fire alarms and interrupting a low-pressure protocol being followed by spacewalkers Michael Foreman and Randolph Bresnik. Foreman and Bresnik were sleeping in the International Space Station's Quest airlock module at a reduced pressure of 10.2 pounds per to help purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams, a routine procedure to help prevent the bends after working in NASA's low-pressure spacesuits. But the depressurization alarm, apparently the result of an unresolved problem with a new Russian module, triggered automatic procedures that brought the airlock back up to the station's normal pressure of 14.7 psi. Because of time needed to reset various systems, Foreman and Bresnik were told to forego the normal protocol and to sleep wherever they liked, at the station's normal pressure.

A rapid depressurization alarm Thursday also woke the astronauts. The station's computer system automatically shut down ventilation fans as a precaution and as a result, a fire alarm sounded in the European Space-products in the absence of ventilation. Engineers later determined the false depressurization alarm was the result of a problem of some sort in the Russian Poisk module, which arrived at the space station earlier this month. The station's air pressure remained normal throughout. A similar problem developed Friday night when a rapid depressurization alarm sounded at 9:53 p.m. EST. This time around, two fire alarms were triggered, one in Columbus and one in the Quest airlock module