Author Topic: STS-120 Cheerleading Thread (Read 29471 times)

Mark Nguyen · « **Reply #40 on:** 10/23/2007 02:57 pm »

Discovery is the flagship these days - she led us through the RTF flights, spearheaded the return to construction, and now will be doing what is arguably the most complex construction and expansion mission in the history of spaceflight. Best wishes Discovery and have a great mission!

Mark

sawtooth · « **Reply #41 on:** 10/23/2007 03:01 pm »

In an effort to help get STS 120 off the gound I've mixed up a nice batch of Orange Kool-Aid. Sorry, no Tang on hand.

Do I need some kind of special waiver to clear the alternate orange drink?

[edit]
Oh, and the ice is melting rapidly in the orange drink. Surely this is a positive sign?

Lee Jay · « **Reply #42 on:** 10/23/2007 03:02 pm »

My best wishes for a safe and successful flight, to the crew, the technicians, and the engineers and all others that work on the program.

Naito · « **Reply #43 on:** 10/23/2007 03:15 pm »

GO Discovery!!

I know it's silly, but am I the only one apprehensive about 11:38am launch time?

charlieb · « **Reply #44 on:** 10/23/2007 03:39 pm »

LIFTOFF OF DISCOVERY!!! GO DISCOVERY!! GO MCC HOUSTON!!! ALL - DO GOOD WORK!!!! May God Bless all involved with STS-120.......

Lee Jay · « **Reply #45 on:** 10/23/2007 03:55 pm »

Yes! Finally broke the every-other-flight rollback chain!!!

spaceshuttle · « **Reply #46 on:** 10/23/2007 04:01 pm »

The launch was meh, but whatever. GO 120!!!!!

HKS · « **Reply #47 on:** 10/23/2007 04:16 pm »

Congratulations to all involved in the launch!

It's always impressive to follow the countdown here in NSF, with all the information on L2

Joffan · « **Reply #48 on:** 10/23/2007 04:27 pm »

Great launch. Good luck and best wishes to the STS-120 crew. Many thanks for the NSF coverage.

dawei · « **Reply #49 on:** 10/23/2007 04:51 pm »

Excellent job to all! What a wonderful day. Rejoicing all around. I'm sure the crew of the next shuttle is happy to be prime crew and happy to iincrease their odds of launching in December and getting back home in time for the holidays.

TNCMAXQ · « **Reply #50 on:** 10/23/2007 04:55 pm »

It looked great. Wish I had been there.

I wonder how the view was for onlookers since on TV it looked like clouds obscured the vehicle during much of the ascent.

Mike Currie seemed to lose his timing there in the last few seconds, plus I have never heard a PAO talk about the sound suppression system water in the final 10 seconds! He then seemed to have to rush the rest of his commentary. But as this was his first time I will let it go.

I was just very pleased to see them get off on time, and I think it's great that 3 launches in a row have occurred right at the start of the window with no scrubs.

joncz · « **Reply #51 on:** 10/23/2007 04:56 pm »

Yay! Now I get to look forward to tomorrow night's ISS and shuttle pass over Atlanta.

Heavens-Above predicts a -1.8 (!) magnitude pass of ISS at 58 degree altitude with the shuttle chasing.

stockman · « **Reply #52 on:** 10/23/2007 05:04 pm »

Quote

joncz - 23/10/2007 12:56 PM

Yay! Now I get to look forward to tomorrow night's ISS and shuttle pass over Atlanta.

Heavens-Above predicts a -1.8 (!) magnitude pass of ISS at 58 degree altitude with the shuttle chasing.

Lets hope you have clear skies!!

sawtooth · « **Reply #53 on:** 10/23/2007 05:33 pm »

Quote

joncz - 23/10/2007 11:56 AM

Yay! Now I get to look forward to tomorrow night's ISS and shuttle pass over Atlanta.

Heavens-Above predicts a -1.8 (!) magnitude pass of ISS at 58 degree altitude with the shuttle chasing.

Yeah, that pass isn't so great from up here in Minnesota. 25 deg max altitude, only mag 0 and since I'm a bit northeast of the twin cities I'd be looking towards the light dome.

I've not had much luck with ISS/Shuttle passes up here in Minnesota. I did get some nice passes of Shuttle/ISS chasing while living down north of Dallas though.

pierogoletto · « **Reply #54 on:** 10/23/2007 08:43 pm »

Excellent job everyone involved. And since I am Italian I am happy to se an Italian astronaut going to the ISS in this so much important mission.

Avron · « **Reply #55 on:** 10/24/2007 02:45 am »

Congrats once again Chris and team, great coverage..
and to all the folks on here that make it happen, from MAF, to KSC, ESA to ATK etc...
three in one year with a 6mths delay in getting started.. great work, and thank-you all

Bret · « **Reply #56 on:** 10/24/2007 04:44 pm »

Didn't want to clog the live thread, but just had to gush about the early good news on the TPS inspections. I know they are still reviewing, but so far a REALLY clean orbiter, that old tank did really great ... this could very well be the cleanest orbiter ever!

AstroRJY · « **Reply #57 on:** 10/25/2007 07:20 am »

Quote

TNCMAXQ - 23/10/2007 12:55 PM

It looked great. Wish I had been there. I wonder how the view was for onlookers since on TV it looked like clouds obscured the vehicle during much of the ascent.

Mike Currie seemed to lose his timing there in the last few seconds, plus I have never heard a PAO talk about the sound suppression system water in the final 10 seconds! He then seemed to have to rush the rest of his commentary. But as this was his first time I will let it go. I was just very pleased to see them get off on time, and I think it's great that 3 launches in a row have occurred right at the start of the window with no scrubs.

I noticed that too, he was doing really great mostly up until the final seconds...not the right time to get chatty about the purpose of the sound supression system. First time I can ever recall the commentator missing the whole traditional "10-9-8..." countdown. You are correct, he did get slightly behind, he actually was still counting "1" when the SRBs ignited. He's new, we'll cut him some slack: ) He looked like a big, friendly guy excited to be doing his first launch when they showed him interviewing people in the Firing Room. Also thought the choice of using the word "hoisting" was extremely odd although "hoisting Harmony to the heavens" is good if you're a fan of alliteration I suppose. He didn't wrap up his launch phrase until T+11 seconds, whcih I think ties or surpasses Diller on STS-115 about the same time.

All in all, BOTH Curie and Clem were a VERY WELCOME relief from the monotony of Diller and Navias, et al. I thought they did well. (Even though Kylie was 1 million off low on both her figures about launch thrust and SRB thrust. I think it's at least 7.425, not 6.425 million at liftoff and 6.3 not 5.3 million total for the SRBs combined thrust.) It was great to see them off on time on the first try. I hope we have more morning launches in the near future.

TNCMAXQ · « **Reply #58 on:** 10/25/2007 12:55 pm »

"I noticed that too, he was doing really great mostly up until the final seconds...not the right time to get chatty about the purpose of the sound supression system."

True. Other PAOs have done that but managed to get that info in prior to T-10.

"First time I can ever recall the commentator missing the whole traditional "10-9-8..." countdown. "

I think that has happened a few times in the past, but not often. I know it happened with either Skylab or Apollo-Soyuz where Chuck Hollinghsed starting the final count at 7.

"You are correct, he did get slightly behind, he actually was still counting "1" when the SRBs ignited. He's new, we'll cut him some slack: )"

Yes that struck me a bit too. Plus Diller usually does not even mention SRB ignition.

"He didn't wrap up his launch phrase until T+11 seconds, whcih I think ties or surpasses Diller on STS-115 about the same time."

Somewhat unusual too. Plus he said the vehicle had cleared the tower. That is very uncommon now, though they did it all the time in the pre 51L days.

"All in all, BOTH Curie and Clem were a VERY WELCOME relief from the monotony of Diller and Navias, et al. I thought they did well."

Yes it is good to have some variety on launch days.

stockman · « **Reply #59 on:** 10/25/2007 01:59 pm »

It is an absolute WASTE of time being at work today!!! I can't do anything except hit refresh every 20 seconds... I am just going to stay huddled in my cubicle and try not to draw attentiont to myself... good thing the boss is out of the office today !! These shuttle missions sure cut into productivity I must say!