KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - Racing to orbit atop a manmade Sun through the midnight skies above Florida last night, space shuttle Discovery finally blasted off on a mission to deliver new science equipment and a now-famous treadmill to the International Space Station and swap out station crew members. Discovery's launch came after four days of weather and technical delays that threatened to push the launch off until October.
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Climbing higher, the shuttle's launch gave the Space Coast a spectacular early dawn visible as far away as Orlando and up the east coast. With shuttle commander Rick Sturckow and pilot Kevin Ford seated on Discovery's flight deck, the shuttle swiftly rose through scattered clouds, the power of 7.5 million pounds of thrust sending visible shock waves through the clouds and thick humidity that blanketed central Florida. Two minutes later, the twin solid rocket boosters burned out and separated from the orbiter and exernal tank, leaving the shuttle to complete the eight and half minute ride to orbit under the power of Discovery's three liquid-fueled main engines. Joining three-time space veteran Sturckow and Ford are mission specialists Nicole Stott, Christer Fuglesang and Danny Olivas, each making their their second flight, Jose Hernandez and Patrick Forrester on his third trip to space. Ford, Hernandez and Stott are space rookies making their first flight. Discovery's launch came four days later than planned after stormy weather forced a scrub of the first launch attempt Tuesday morning and a second scrub and two days of delay while engineers performed troubleshooting on a suspect liquid hydrogen fill-and-drain valve inside the shuttle aft compartment. The valve trouble turned out to be faulty instrumentation rather than the valve itself and NASA engineers and managers worked out an acceptable rationale for flying without the data from a sensor that detects the open or closed position of the valve by using other data. Engineers also worked out an alternate means of testing the valve during the countdown in case the problem resurfaced. During last night's countdown the valve and sensor worked perfectly. In fact, the launch team tracked no significant issues during the entire countdown and, once again, the only potential showstopper seemed to be the weather. As the afternoon wore on during the final hours of the countdown, thunderstorms and heavy clouds rolled through the area. Air Force meteorologists had given only a 60% chance of acceptable weather for launch and their forecast was typically accurate. But, as launch time approached, the storms diminished and moved out to sea and, gradually, the various weather-related launch constraints went from "red" to "green". When the final launch polls were conducted at T-9 minutes, all stations reported go for launch, including the weather, and Discovery was set to finally rocket to space on a mission that will see NASA celebrate the vehicle's first launch exactly 25 years earlier in August 1984. Discovery's launch appeared to be free of the excessive foam shedding that plagued Endeavour's July 15 liftoff when a large number of strips of foam stripped away from the ribbed intertank region of the ET between the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen sections. Engineers determined that the most likely cause of the shedding was contamination on the primer layer that prevented proper adhesion of the orange insulation. As a precaution, NASA managers ordered extensive testing to Discovery's tank to make sure it didn't suffer the same problem. While, at first glance, today's launch appeared clean, it will take several days of analysis of launch and postlaunch imagery before NASA can formally declare the shuttle's heat shield safe for landing. Discovery's mission to the International Space Station is primarily devoted to logistics supply and work to prepare the complex for operational use after the shuttle fleet is retired next year. The shuttle is bringing two new science racks, one for materials science experiments and one for fluid physics, a freezer for preserving experiment samples, a new crew sleep station and a new air revitalization system. During the flight, spacewalking astronauts will replace a nearly depleted ammonia coolant tank on the outside of the station's main truss. The 1,800 pound tank is about 70% empty. During a carefully choreographed EVA, the spent tank will be replaced with a fresh unit from Discovery's payload bay. Another payload aboard the shuttle is a new treadmill named after comedian Stephen Colbert, the Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or C.O.L.B.E.R.T. During a NASA contest to name a new station module, Node 3, Colbert urged viewers to write in his name instead of choosing one of the choices suggested by the space agency. Although his name won, NASA officials refused to name the module after him (a potential violation of NASA policy anyway) and named the module Tranquility. Instead, they named the new treadmill after the comedian. In all, Discovery is carrying science equipment and racks to the station totaling 6,050 pounds, as well as 1,590 of supplies such as food, water and clothes for the crew. The shuttle is also hauling 6,190 pounds of spare parts and equipment that will be used to maintain the station in the future. Discovery's mission will also conduct a crew rotation, replacing outgoing station flight engineer Timothy Kopra with shuttle mission specialist Nicole Stott. Stott will become part of the Expedition 20 crew on ISS while Kopra will return home aboard Discovery. The crew rotation is the last one the shuttle will perform. With just six flights remaining before shuttle retirement, the focus, in addition to delivering the Tranquility modules, will be on outfitting the station with its full complement of science equipment and bringing up spare parts that may be needed to keep the station going when the shuttle, and its massive cargo-carrying capacity, is no longer available. (The Spacearium / Space Media Corporation)
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