STS-133/Discovery

Beeker

Some nice wide angle views of Discovery from its roll over Thursday.:)

Beeker

Cool 360 views of Discovery dueing rollover and in the VAB:)

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-space-shuttle-discovery-360-090910,0,5278599.htmlpage

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-space-shuttle-discovery-360-2-090910,0,6530610.htmlpage

Beeker

Rollout for Discovery to Pad 39-A due for Monday night at midnight {Irish time}.

lord lucan

Another minor issue cropped up,a bent bolt on the T-0 Umbilical Bolt. They have it sorted now but i've a strange feeling Discovery could see many little snags ahead as she does her best to stave off retirement. She won't go out quietly.:)

lord lucan

Rollout to 39A begins at 01.00 tomorrow morning our time.

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

Rollout to 39A begins at 01.00 tomorrow morning our time.

Should be in bed:)

lord lucan

Beeker wrote: »

Should be in bed:)

I'm tempted to watch an hour of it just to see her leave the VAB. I'll be shattered tomorrow but it's a small price to pay!:)

lord lucan

She's getting ready to roll.:)

lord lucan

She's on the move.

lord lucan

Just starting to leave the VAB now with a gorgeous sunset too.:)

lord lucan

Ghost Train

Oh, I must check it out

lord lucan

She's outta the VAB now,she'll be motoring down the crawlerway to 39A now!:D

Ghost Train

Nice big shadow

Great spot lights

lord lucan

lord lucan

http://twitpic.com/2qg4nc

lord lucan

lord lucan

With that i'm off to bed. She should be set down and in position by the time i get back up in the morning.:)

lord lucan

Discovery made it to 39A in the early hours of this morning.:)

Ghost Train

Interesting that the left booster has a black band around the top, any reason? Or is it always like that

lord lucan

The left SRB always have a black band. Afaik it's purely for i.d. purposes both after seperation and for recovery. Here's the black band in view from one of my own pics from Atlantis' launch last november.

Ghost Train

lord lucan wrote: »

The left SRB always have a black band. Afaik it's purely for i.d. purposes both after seperation and for recovery. Here's the black band in view from one of my own pics from Atlantis' launch last november.

thanks
strange I never noticed it before

Beeker

Good man LL I had to hit the bed early last night with an early start this morning so I have only now got the chance to catch up!!

Beeker

Once again NASA have provided some unique views of the rollout. Pity it has taken the ending of the programme to give the media greater access. Still can't complain:)

Beeker

Beeker

Beeker

Roll on November 1st:)

Beeker

Launch pad processing underway now on Discovery

Beeker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJu7Y-yCMiw

lord lucan

Just hope i'm not working for launch!!!:eek:

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

Just hope i'm not working for launch!!!:eek:

If it goes on time, I am but will have it on, not going to miss it:)

Beeker

Nice timelapse of the rollout:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrI9T4yfpo8

lord lucan

Some brilliant pics of Discovery sitting on 39A here:http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/100921onpad/

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

Some brilliant pics of Discovery sitting on 39A here:http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/100921onpad/

Some great shots there OK:)

Beeker

:DI forgot about the fake owls they have at the pad:D:D
For thoes who don't know they were put in place after woodpeckers attacked the external tank on STS-70 / Discovery in 1985. Vehicle had to be rolled back to the VAB for repairs:D




Damage to STS-70 External Tank

backboiler

Ghost Train wrote: »

Nice big shadow

Great spot lights

Now I'm on the mobile so maybe it's obvious on the big screen but what is the shadow being projected onto? Surely the VAB isn't *that* big.

This better not be a case of small/far away. That'd be embarrassing.

Ghost Train

backboiler wrote: »

Now I'm on the mobile so maybe it's obvious on the big screen but what is the shadow being projected onto? Surely the VAB isn't *that* big.

This better not be a case of small/far away. That'd be embarrassing.

Yes the VAB
It is the fourth largest building in the world by volume
It is pretty big, this is a picture of it in daylight

vab.jpg

lord lucan

backboiler wrote: »

Now I'm on the mobile so maybe it's obvious on the big screen but what is the shadow being projected onto? Surely the VAB isn't *that* big.

This better not be a case of small/far away. That'd be embarrassing.

It's the VAB and yes,it's THAT big! It's so big that it has it's own microclimate.:)

Beeker

backboiler wrote: »

Now I'm on the mobile so maybe it's obvious on the big screen but what is the shadow being projected onto? Surely the VAB isn't *that* big.

This better not be a case of small/far away. That'd be embarrassing.

526 ft tall. It's big!!:)

lord lucan

Looks like Mike Massamino was doing a bit of work for NASA tv on the rollout,hopefully we'll see something soon. These couple of pics are from his Twitter.

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

Looks like Mike Massamino was doing a bit of work for NASA tv on the rollout,hopefully we'll see something soon. These couple of pics are from his Twitter.

Hope so!! His stuff is great, pity there were not more like him over the years.:)

Beeker

These are fantastic!!!!!!:) Wow:eek::pac::pac::pac::pac: Happy Beeker:)

http://nasatech.net/Pad39AUnderMLP100921/


http://nasatech.net/PadA215_100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39ALSRB100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39ANEMLP100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39AROMS100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39ASEMLP100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39AETBooster100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39AUnderET100921/

lord lucan

That's as close as i can ever hope to get to an Orbiter in launch configuration!!:)

lord lucan

Not directly 133 related but another couple of behind the scenes videos with Mike Massimino have appeared on their Youtube channel. Some brilliant stuff in these.:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp3Ann1pebk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRihDyoSDNo

whynotdo

lord lucan wrote: »

3 and a half months.:(:(:(:(:(

T-1 Month and counting;)

Stargate

Beeker wrote: »

These are fantastic!!!!!!:) Wow:eek::pac::pac::pac::pac: Happy Beeker:)

http://nasatech.net/Pad39AUnderMLP100921/


http://nasatech.net/PadA215_100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39ALSRB100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39ANEMLP100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39AROMS100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39ASEMLP100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39AETBooster100921/


http://nasatech.net/Pad39AUnderET100921/

Is that mad or what Beeker , enjoyed those ta

Stargate

Stargate

whynotdo wrote: »

T-1 Month and counting;)

Nice to see you post

Beeker

STS-133 Flight Plan for anyone interested. I use these as my bible during all flights.:)

whynotdo

Still on catch-up, really glad The rollout of Discovery was covered here by You LL.
I too was watching it,there was something really eerie when they pointed the spotlights on it as it emerged from the VAB,something surreal,something like a scene from a Sci Fi movie[close encounters of the third kind came into My head]

What You described as a beautiful sunset,if i had been posting i would have said even the Sky looks angry,how red it was.

Genuinely emotional occasion as We know for certain that this is truely Discoverys last ever flight.

Atlantis last flight was an uncertain affair,I am as certain as can be that Atlantis will get that last flight.

Whitehouse sources said at the time that Obama supported the Senate compromise bill,He will look foolish if he does not sign it now!

It was a long night waiting for the house to endorse the Senate bill over their own version before they rushed off on holidays (again) for the mid-terms.

I was keeping an eye on NSC forums,The Bill was meant to come up for a vote at about 9PM but turned out not to happen until nearly 5AM Irish time.

Not too bad for the American posters but Chris Bergin sat through it all and ordered his 'Troops' NOT to go to sleep!:)

There was a campaign right to the end involving Astronauts senior NASA staff and a group set up to get this bill passed,asking their Congressmen to vote Yay by flooding their phones telling them it had to be passed,hosted by NSN .

Our only videolink was C-Span zzzzzzzzzz

If i use phrases like "how much time do i have left Mr Speaker?" or "i cede two of My Minutes to the member fromTexas" in the future please snap Me out of it!

Outside of a Shuttle Launch days Bergin said the thread on the day of the passing of the bill was the highest amount of 'hits' the site had ever had

lord lucan

Discoverys payload arrived at 39a this morning.