Observation of Discovery launch

I watched this launch courtesy of NASA television, from my home in Jefferson. Watching this gave me a further understanding, even appreciation, for how much goes into a launch. How many processes need to be gone through before a shuttle can even leave the ground. It also broadened my understanding of how these machines work, what’s required to rendezvous with the International Space Station, and how hard it really is to make it to space.
Notes-Observation
Observation-Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery to the international space station.
Time- 7:43pm, EDT
-Observation began at T-2 minutes to Discovery launch
-Fueling arm at top of launch tower just being retracted
-Small bat spotted clinging to Discovery’s external fuel tank. Problem declared non-critical to launch.
-T-10 seconds: FDO (flight dynamics officer) declares Discovery has a go for auto sequence start.
-T-6 seconds: FDO declares “Main engines start” as Discovery’s three main engines begin burning.
-T-0 seconds: SRBs (solid rocket boosters) start and FDO declares “We have liftoff!”
-T+3 seconds: FDO declares “Discovery has cleared the tower” meaning Houston now had complete control over Discovery, and Kennedy Space Center’s job was done.
-The next call made was the “Go at throttle up,” asking Discovery to increase throttles to full power.
-Next came the “Negative return” call, meaning Discovery had reached an altitude where if something were to go wrong, they could not return to KSC.
-The next call was the order for Discovery to roll level to the earth and jettison the massive external tank.

Final Focus; further research needed

When I wrote my Blog Analysis essay, it became real to me that there were very few things that I needed to know more about. If there was anything I would be interested in pursuing is the Altair Lunar Lander (The craft designed to land on the moon) and how they plan to solve the problem of dust rising around the landing sight. (Something that was a big problem in the Apollo missions. There is no GPS on the moon, landing is done largely by identifying landmarks on the lunar surface. Hence, if the dust flies up, they can no longer see those landmarks, and they could be landing on jagged rock, a major catastrophe.) I feel that as far as the Ares rocket is concerned, progress has been made since the blog started, but it has been very slow and filled with delays. Though it is late in the blog project for this, I think the best choice would be to broaden the research to things also related to the rocket. For instance, the lunar lander, the Orion crew capsule, and the astronauts that will be going to the moon. My oral presentation will talk about the problems that the project has endured, and what is being done to fix them. If I find in the next few weeks that there are problems with the Altair Lander and the Orion capsule, I will add those to the oral presentation. The main problem is stability on the launch pad.

Notes (Remembering Spider and Gumdrop)

-Spider was Apollo 9's Lunar Excursion Module (LEM).
-Gumdrop was the Command Module (CM)
-Crew-Russell Schweickart, Pilot of LEM. David Scott, Pilot of CM. James McDivitt, Commander.
-Most complex space mission to that date.
-Purpose was to prove that landing on the moon could be done.
-Gumdrop had to separate from the rocket, turn around, and extract the LEM from it's housing inside the rocket.
-On day three of the mission, Schweickart and McDivitt moved through the tunnel and into the Lunar Module.
-On day four, they donned pressure suits for Schweickart's Spacewalk on the outside of the Lunar module.
-David Scott simultaneously opened the hatch on the CM, just a few feet away from Schweickart.
-On day five, McDivitt and Schweickart test fly the Spider, by undocking and flying one hundred miles away from Gumdrop, then piloting Spider back to Gumdrop and Re-docking.
-Spider descended to just 86 miles above the earths surface and jettisoned the launch platform that would be left on the moon had it not been a test flight.
-The docking was successful. It was critical to dock because the LEM does not have a heat shield and therefore cannot return safely to earth.
-The Spider was then Launched away from Gumdrop, which held the three astronauts.
-The final five days were of great value to the scientific community as they were spent taking photographs from high earth orbit.
-The mission was completed without further complication.