We have liftoff.....

[sleepwalker]

That big candle is now in space.... I hope they make it back allright

 

[Moleculo]

If anyone is interested, an amateur club was rebroadcasting the shuttle communications on 14.295 usb this morning. I don't know how long they're going to keep it up for...

 

[Fdtrucker]

I watched it this afternoon, It was cool to see it go up live! I watched the last 2 attempts, it was nice to see 3rd time was the charm!!

 

[Sonwatcher]

Up to six pieces of debris fell off Discovery: NASA
Jul 04 5:04 PM US/Eastern
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Up to six pieces of debris that could be foam insulation fell off Discovery's troublesome external fuel tank minutes after liftoff Tuesday, a top NASA official said.

Officials cautioned, however, that it was too soon to know whether the debris struck Discovery and that the pieces came off later than would normally endanger the shuttle.

Columbia's demise in February 2003 was caused by foam insulation that peeled off 70 seconds after liftoff and struck its heat shield.

"About two minutes and 47 seconds give or take (after the Discovery launch), we saw three perhaps four pieces come off (the fuel tank)," said shuttle program manager Wayne Hale, adding that it was unclear whether it was foam or "something else."

"We also saw another piece or two come off at about four minutes 50 seconds," he told reporters at the Kennedy Space Center.

He cautioned, however, that it was "very raw, preliminary data" and would have another report later Tuesday.

But Hale said the debris came off the fuel tank later than officials fear it could damage the shuttle's heat shield.

"Both of those (losses of debris) are interesting because they are after the time we're concerned about aerodynamic transport causing damage to the shuttle tiles," he said in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

He did not say what size the debris was.

NASA officials had expected some foam to come off during liftoff, but that it would not be of a size that would endanger the shuttle.

A small piece of foam fell off Discovery's fuel tank a day before the launch, but officials decided the shuttle could fly safely without repairing the gap.

 

[Happy_Hamer]

ALSO North Korea launched 6 missiles within minutes of the space shuttle to "shake up" the USA.

Watch this, things hopefully get better before they get worse

 

[Sonwatcher]

I read about that. They said the longrange missle that is able to reach the US failed but had NORAD making calls for preporations to intercept. One missle landed in the Sea of Japan about 325 miles from the coast.

 

[Sonwatcher]

N. Korea missile aimed at area off Hawaii - report
TOKYO (Reuters) - A North Korean missile launched on Wednesday was aimed at an area of the ocean close to Hawaii, a Japanese newspaper reported on Friday.

Experts estimated the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile to have a range of up to 6,000 km, putting Alaska within its reach. Wednesday's launch apparently failed shortly after take-off and the missile landed in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, a few hundred kilometres from the launch pad.

But data from U.S. and Japanese Aegis radar-equipped destroyers and surveillance aircraft on the missile's angle of take-off and altitude indicated that it was heading for waters near Hawaii, the Sankei Shimbun reported, citing multiple sources in the United States and Japan.

North Korea may have targeted Hawaii to show the United States that it was capable of landing a missile there, or because it is home to the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific fleet, the paper said.

An alternative explanation might be that a missile could accidentally hit land if fired towards Alaska, the report said.

A separate report in the Mainichi Shimbun daily cited U.S. and Japanese government officials as saying a piece of the Taepodong-2 missile fell off immediately after take-off, strengthening the view that the launch was a failure.