Welcome to the the STS-123 mission thread covering space shuttle Endeavour's mission to the International Space Station. This thread will lead up to Endeavour's liftoff on March 11, 2008 at 2:30 A.M. Eastern time.
About 12 more days to go until the launch of Endeavour on the 16 day STS-123 mission to the international space station. Launch Is still on track for a liftoff on March 11, 2008 at around 2:28 A.M. eastern time. For more info go to www.nasa.gov
T- 9:23:03:00 till the launch of STS-123
hope that this mission will not be like the STS122 !! On TIME please !:)
It looks like I am going to stay up late Monday night. Launch in my time zone is 11:30 PM. ;D
I'm confident that the ECO sensors will be no problem.
T-0:09:45:00 till launch.... make sure you watch it here if you do not live close enough to see it ... http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html?param=public
The liftoff of Endeavour on the STS-123 mission remains on schedule for 2:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 11.
The movement of the enclosed gantry clears the way for the loading of about 500,000 gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants into the orange external tank this evening.
The current weather forecast calls for only a 10 percent chance atmospheric conditions will delay the launch, with the primary concern coming from a slight chance of a low cloud ceiling around Kennedy.
Hey I got to watch the launch last night. IT was AWSOM. There were no set backs or nothin. ;D
I stayed up and watched it also. My 3 year old son and I watched on my 48 inch BIG screen. ;D
COOL night launch!
/Admin
This was the first launch since the RTF that I've missed. I had no intention of getting up at 6am to watch it! ;D
Watching the launch from the BBC website, on the throttle-up call, they mention something about no action on RCS messages. What's that all about?
Yeah nice launching at night. I could watch it live as it was at 07:28 local almost the time I awake each morning :)
As for the RCS message I heard it also about a LEFT RCS message which I guess is a warning that the crew had on the flight computer or something like that. I also heard a bit about the Flash Evap a bit later but after the SRBs separation, though I did not follow that part as easily :)
I got up about 5am to watch the launch, amazing as usual. I've just browsed the Press Pack on NASA's site and read about the mission details etc. One thing that struck me was the design of the mission's (STS123) patch. Is it my imagination or is Dextre giving the finger / bird !!! ;D
Quote from: asterix on March 13, 2008, 09:26:28 AM
....<SNIP>... Is it my imagination or is Dextre giving the finger / bird !!! ;D
LOL! Quite... shocking!
"Data", out!
/Admin
What is Dextre? ;D
If you have probs controlling the sim's RMS, you DO NOT want to know about Dextre. If you feel brave, go to NASA's website and read the press pack for STS 123. All will be revealed. ;)
Agreed about RMS and Dextre...good one. Seriously Dextre is something really cool and I can't wait to see it in action...
Heads up to anybody on the forum any news on Flash Evap problem, during launch I heard they had to go B, wondering if after they opened the payload bay doors and deployed the radiators they recycled Flash Evap A and got it working?
Ben
This was posted on Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog today:
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/video/sts-123/day10/replay3.php
It's STS-123 launch as viewed from inside the shuttle.
That cockpit launch vid was amazing. ;D I am so, so envious of those guys.
Great video! ;D Thanks ;)
Last full day in space!!
The FCS checkout and RCS hotfire has been completed. These two checks are very important checkouts before tomorrows landing. The first one is a checkout of the elevons and rudder, APU 1 was turned on for that test. The second is a test of all the RCS jets on the Shuttle to check if they're functioning properly. This is done because during normal orbit ops often some jets are never used.
CDR Gorie and PLT Johnson will spend some time with the PILOT-landing sim today. This is a program that is run from one of the laptops, with an RHC connected to the computer. PILOT has been used since the early/mid 90's.
There are also some PAO events today, one ESA event with Eyharts talking with French media and another one with the entire crew talking with, among others, CNN and Associated Press.
There will also be an orbit adjust burn today. Endeavour's orbit will be adjusted to accomodate an orbit 248 landing. Touchdown time for that first opportunity is 7.05 p.m EDT/6.05 p.m CDT. Adjusting the orbit also opened up for a daylight landing, instead of a night landing as was first planned. The planned touchdown time is about 30 minutes before sunset. Edwards has not been called up for landing support tomorrow due to weather forecasts being very good at the cape, with an expected crosswind of about 10 knots.
Endeavour is on her way home .. Deorbit burn executed.
She's home safe!! Next launch slated for May
I thank the stars and shade everyday for the NASA channel....2010 is coming fast. I watched the first launch back in '81 and i will, God willing, be around for the last.
thank you for all your reports here!