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.