STS-133 Shuttle Mission to the International Space Station Launches Thursday 21:50 GMT

Marine Iguana · 7 Mar 2011 at 00:32

Love the colour one

Nice.

apeZ · 7 Mar 2011 at 00:33

Great pictures! B&W imo for the last one, not so keen on the mix of colours in the sky.

shredgod · 7 Mar 2011 at 01:34

Such a shame that the shuttle launches are coming to an end. I spent my childhood holidays in florida and the highlight was (and still is) going to Kennedy Space centre. Was lucky enough to see STS-97 lift off on one of the NASA organised tour bus things

Was the single best thing i've ever experienced.

EniGmA1981 · 7 Mar 2011 at 06:35

Every time I watch anything to do with the shuttle, I get a near overwhelming urge to watch Space Camp LOL

It will be such a sad day when the final shuttle mission returns to Earth

Cosimo · 7 Mar 2011 at 07:58

Today we leave the ISS:

Flight Day 12

• Discovery’s final undocking from station and fly-around
• Final separation from the station
• OBSS late inspection of Discovery’s thermal heat shield
• OBSS berth

Undocking is at 12:00 GMT (07:00 EST).

Embed · 7 Mar 2011 at 08:06

EniGmA1981 said:
It will be such a sad day when the final shuttle mission returns to Earth

Big time, 1 of my dreams was to go and watch a shuttle launch. But the end is approaching fast and I doubt I will fulfill this dream.

Anyone give me a ball park figure on how much a trip would cost from Scotland to see a shuttle launch? im guessing like 2-2.5k?

Berserker · 7 Mar 2011 at 08:28

Oh my! What a special wake-up call. Kudos to William Shatner for agreeing to do that.

Cosimo · 7 Mar 2011 at 09:47

Berserker said:
Oh my! What a special wake-up call. Kudos to William Shatner for agreeing to do that.

That was a nice touch and he replaced the original the original Star Trek theme introduction with:

“Space, the final frontier. These have been the voyages of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Her 30 year mission. To seek out new science. To build new outposts. To bring nations together on the final frontier. To boldly go, and do, what no spacecraft has done before.”

Cosimo · 7 Mar 2011 at 10:14

This mornings "Star Trek" wake-up call:

http://www.archive.org/download/STS-133/03-07-11_STS-133_FD12_Crew_Wakeup.mp3

or:

http://www.archive.org/download/STS-133/03-07-11_STS-133_FD12_Crew_Wakeup.wav

apeZ · 7 Mar 2011 at 11:51

When is Discovery scheduled to land?

Cosimo · 7 Mar 2011 at 12:46

apeZ said:
When is Discovery scheduled to land?

Wednesday at 16:58 GMT (11:58 EST).

Cosimo · 7 Mar 2011 at 13:22

Away we go:

Cosimo · 7 Mar 2011 at 13:25

Cosimo · 7 Mar 2011 at 15:34

You might as well have the video:

Kazz · 7 Mar 2011 at 15:37

Meh, should have been Picard...

*runs off to avoid the coming conflict*

Helios1234 · 7 Mar 2011 at 19:36

I just watched the ISS going pass. It was an amazingly clear night and the pass lasted a good 3 minutes.

G-MAN2004 · 7 Mar 2011 at 19:38

I just can't imagine what it'd be like to see that view of the earth. Mind blowing.

Cosimo · 7 Mar 2011 at 21:35

Great video from a number of engineering cameras:

Embed · 7 Mar 2011 at 22:52

That video is simply awe inspiring. Loved every second.

Cosimo · 8 Mar 2011 at 08:23

So we get the the last full day in space:

Flight Day 13

• Cabin stowage
• Flight control system checkout
• Reaction control system hot-fire test
• Deorbit preparation briefing
• Ku-band antenna stowage

Landing is at 16:58 GMT (11:58 EST) tomorrow.