Lift-off of the Space Shuttle Discovery with Astronaut Sunita Williams aboard is scheduled for 8:47:35 p.m. EST. Watch it LIVE by clicking the picture below or turning on the news (CNN has it LIVE):
Good Luck and Godspeed.
UPDATE (8:57p.m. EST): They just jettisoned the External Tank. SUCCESS!! Time for orbital insertion.
You guys crack me up.
Orbital insertion is one of the most critical burns.
Didn’t he just call her Sunny Williams? I didn’t know she used that name. Or maybe it was the accent.
Yes, she goes by “Sunny.” Kalpana Chawla went by “KC.”
Watching NASA channel, so cool
kablooey
Every time I watch a shuttle liftoff (or any rocket liftoff, really), I get tingles down my spine and feel as excited as I did when I was 10 and all this was new, new, new.
Is there anything more hopeful than space travel?
That is so cool! Go Sunita! I used to be able to watch the space shuttle go up from our house in Florida and night flights were the best – the whole sky lights up!
Archana writes:
!!!
Now that’s a DIMBY that I’d love to have! (DIMBY=Definitely in my back yard)
M. Nam
Thanx for posting a reminder and time Abhi. I will definitely watch it.
to all the astronauts – have a happy journey
most people get burns after insertion 🙁
The launch was spectacular. Wonder if they will show S Williams eating her samosas on TV….
What do You (Abhi) plan on taking into space when you fly ?
Sorry JoAT. The launch was last night (I posted this yesterday) 🙁 They are in space right now.
If I am ever that lucky? I’m not sure quite sure. I do like dark chocolate Toblerone. I will be live-blogging it though 🙂
Just dark toblerone? I was hoping it would be your sour cream ketchup and green chutney on a dosa………… 🙂 In any case, when you live blog it , I will be at my computer hanging on for the latest entry. Also, why do the astronauts reveal what books they are carrying?? A prayer book, I can understand. but some of the other ones I cant understand their significance.
Oh no. I didn’t even realize. Well it is a success so far so that’s all that matters. The live TV is cool.
I just misread this as “We are go for lunch” and I thought … mmmmm …. lunch.
There is a curiosity about most of the items astronauts take up. The press almost always reports on this. The reasons for this are two-fold in my opinion. First, it is kind of cool to learn what items someone would keep with them (whether it be food, books, mementos, etc.) in that vast desolation. It is the same as when you ask the question “if you were on a deserted island, what would you take?” The other reason is entirely unspoken. Given the real possibility that you are going to die, what was it that you decided to take up there with you to occupy some of your last days. Definitely doesn’t have the same weight as an Oprah suggestion but it is still interesting to know I think.
Star Trek with BhagwadGita, Ganesha and Samosas!
M. Nam
Abhi, is there a list somewhere of what these astronauts took on their flight into space? I saw Sunita Williams’ list above, but I was wondering if there were any others. Thanks again for the heads up.
http://www.virgingalactic.com
Followed by positioning burns for re-entry …
Abhi you need to write a 55 with this line in it 🙂
I had to snicker at that, in spite of being almost 30 years old. In a related story: Last night while drunkenly watching bad late-night TV, I saw a commercial for ‘Girls Gone Wild’ that appeared to be filmed in space (or somewhere equally gravity-free) with 5 naked(and proud!)females and one flight-suited fellow. Ah, I can’t wait for Life magazine to chronicle the wonders of our generation 50 years from now.
Gawd you all are so dirty. Here is a pic of a typical orbit insertion (SFW)
Big talk from a girl who hasn’t written her own 55 yet 😛
I know everyone’s already said this but “orbital insertion”? LOL.
Now the term ‘incoming trajectory’ is making me snicker.
What about ‘retro burn’?
Now I know why my husband spends hours calculation stuff on trajectories and insertions etc…its not rocket science..its nerd porn.
Since I was at my dadaji’s in TX this weekend I can imagine how that would have gone over 😛
and yet I HAD to feed my SM addiction and log on 😛
hehe…Msichana you krak me up 😛 see you this saturday