STS-120 - Discovery set to launch on 23rd Oct 16:38 BST

Blinkz · 17 Oct 2007 at 16:54

Space Shuttle Discovery is "Go" for Launch

Following a detailed flight readiness review on Tuesday, NASA senior managers announced Oct. 23 as the official launch date for space shuttle Discovery. Commander Pam Melroy and her six crewmates are scheduled to lift off at 11:38 a.m. EDT (16:38 BST for UK) on mission STS-120 to the International Space Station.

The 14-day mission includes five spacewalks – four by shuttle crew members and one by the station’s Expedition 16 crew. Discovery is expected to complete its mission and return home at 4:47 a.m. EST on Nov. 6.

For those of us that are interested, STS-120 is going to be lifting on 23rd Oct, at a decent time here in the UK so we won't have to be up early/late to watch it hehe.

Admiral Huddy · 17 Oct 2007 at 16:55

Put me down as a definate!

Would love to see a launch

helmet · 17 Oct 2007 at 16:57

Thanks for the heads up

.

Ex-RoNiN · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:03

Cool - Columbus is going up after this one?

Carzy · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:03

DISCOVERY

Ex-RoNiN · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:05

Carzy said:
DISCOVERY

Dracata · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:10

I'll definately be up to watch that, nice to have it at a reasonable launch time.

Blinkz · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:11

Ex-Ronin is talking about the European science module for the ISS, which is called Columbus. Yea as far as I know its due for launch in December on STS-122

Ex-RoNiN · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:11

Blinkz said:
Yea as far as I know its due for launch in December on STS-122

Thanks.

Any idea what STS-121 is about?

EDIT: N/M, that was the test launch after Columbia.

Blinkz · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:15

STS-121 was actually flown in 2006, mainly to test new safety measures after the Columbia disaster. I think STS-121 was the 2nd mission after the Columbia, with STS-114 being the first, don't know if anyone can confirm that?

Basically the Columbia disaster has mucked up the mission names a little, as some of them have had to be delayed. STS-122 is the next shuttle mission after this one though.

-edit- yea just looked on wiki and STS-114 was the return to flight mission, then followed by STS-121.

Berserker · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:24

Ex-RoNiN said:
Cool - Columbus is going up after this one?

If you mean Columbia, that was destroyed in 2003 with the loss of all crew. :confused:

Remaining shuttles are - Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavour.

I will be watching. Did I really need to tell you that though?

Blinkz · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:27

Berserker said:
If you mean Columbia, that was destroyed in 2003 with the loss of all crew.

Remaining shuttles are - Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavour.

I will be watching. Did I really need to tell you that though?

See my post above lol, Columbus is the name of the next ISS module.

Berserker · 17 Oct 2007 at 17:42

D'oh. How could I possibly have been so stupid as to miss that. /me slaps head.

You're right. Harmony this time, Columbus next, then Kibo after that.

PS - both STS-114 and STS-121 were 'return to flight' missions. They were also referred to as ULF1 and ULF1.1 respectively, and were, as the name suggests, logistics flights.

Gonzo0 · 22 Oct 2007 at 15:20

Whatever happened to the shuttle Enterprise??

Im sure there was a shuttle named enterprise :confused:

iCraig · 22 Oct 2007 at 15:22

Berserker said:
If you mean Columbia, that was destroyed in 2003 with the loss of all crew. )

Yup. They then sent up the Space Shuttle Columbo to find out what happened.

Cheers for the heads up, added to my outlook reminders.

The_blue · 22 Oct 2007 at 15:33

Gonzo0 said:
Whatever happened to the shuttle Enterprise??

Im sure there was a shuttle named enterprise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise

Gonzo0 · 22 Oct 2007 at 15:48

ahh so thats it.

I thaught it was a really early space shuttle that was actually used in space but was retired. Shame they didnt end up using Enterprise as a fuly operational shuttle, would have been nice to have more shuttles so missions ca be more frequent

Baz · 22 Oct 2007 at 17:51

Out of curiosity, how are you going to watch this??

VaderDSL · 22 Oct 2007 at 17:52

Baz said:
Out of curiosity, how are you going to watch this??

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

I'll be watching at work

robjf · 22 Oct 2007 at 17:54

Baz said:
Out of curiosity, how are you going to watch this??

I was wondering this aswell as im very interested in seeing this. This thread has reminded me of that blo0ke who made the shuttle disappear by magic, still want to know how he did it!