SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCHES TODAY @ 11:30 EST~10-23-2007

Launch Target:
Oct. 23, 2007

Orbiter:
Discovery

Mission Number:
STS-120
(120th space shuttle flight)

Launch Window:
10 minutes

Launch Pad:
39A

Mission Duration:
14 days

Landing Site:
KSC

Inclination/Altitude:
51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

Primary Payload:
23rd station flight (10A), U.S. Node 2


STS-120 Commander Pamela A. Melroy, a veteran shuttle pilot, is the second woman to command a space shuttle mission.


STS-120 Launch Blog

Thanks for joining us for this live coverage as the final hours of the countdown to launch unfold. Through blog updates and videos, we'll keep track of preparations at the launch pad and follow the astronauts as they suit up in Crew Quarters, travel to the launch pad on the Astrovan, and strap into their seats aboard space shuttle Discovery.

10:04 a.m. - The Closeout Crew has sealed the hatch and is performing hatch seal and cabin leak checks before departing the launch pad area. Members of the Final Inspection Team have reached the pad for a further review of an area of ice that they previously observed.

9:54 a.m. - Launch managers are sending the Final Inspection Team back to the launch pad to take another look at the ice that has been observed. The team will be able to communicate with the Launch Control Center about the issue and send back pictures of the area of concern.

9:40 a.m. - Launch managers are looking at a report from the Final Inspection Team about an area of "clear ice" near the liquid hydrogen umbilical on the external tank. It is described as four inches long and about a half inch in diameter. Managers will continue to evaluate the situation.

Weather conditions continue to be closely watched. Although observed conditions appear to be "go" for launch, the ocean breeze is forecast to roll in at 11 a.m. and could bring with it some rain and clouds.

9:28 a.m. - With all the STS-120 astronauts on board space shuttle Discovery, the Closeout Crew members have been given the "go" to begin closing out the crew cabin. Once the hatch is closed, they will perform hatch seal and cabin leak checks before departing the launch pad area, leaving the astronauts alone to await liftoff.

9:18 a.m. - Wheelock, Tani and Wilson are now onboard Discovery and the technicians continue to help the crew strap in for launch.

It's a fact: The STS-120 mission will mark the first time females have been in command of both the space shuttle and the International Space Station at the same time. Space shuttle Discovery is being commanded by Pam Melroy, and Peggy Whitson is currently serving as the station's commander.

8:40 a.m. - Next to board Discovery was Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli, who represents the European Space Agency. He was followed by Pilot George Zamka, then Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski. Mission Specialists Doug Wheelock, Dan Tani and Stephanie Wilson will board next. Tani will remain on the International Space Station, replacing Clay Anderson who will return to Earth with the STS-120 crew.

8:18 a.m. - The crew members are beginning to board Discovery, with Commander Pam Melroy the first to enter the shuttle and strap in. As a standard part of the boarding process, all the astronauts do a communication or "comm" check to verify that they are in two-way communication with both the launch team at Kennedy and Mission Control in Houston.

8:08 a.m. - The astronauts have reached the foot of Launch Pad 39A where space shuttle Discovery waits to carry them on their mission to the International Space Station. They will ride the pad's elevator up to the 195-foot level where the White Room crew awaits their arrival.

8:00 a.m. - The Astrovan has reached the Launch Complex 39 area where it has paused near the Launch Control Center so that Ellen Ochoa, director of Flight Crew Operations at Johnson Space Center, can disembark. She is accompanied by astronaut Brent Jett, commander of STS-115, who is set to take over Ochoa's position after this mission. The vehicle also stopped briefly to drop off Steve Lindsey, chief of the Astronaut Corps, who will take off from the Shuttle Landing Facility in one of the Shuttle Training Aircraft to monitor the weather conditions. Ochoa and Lindsey accompanied the crew members as they readied for flight in Crew Quarters.

7:48 a.m. - Smiling and waving to gathered space center workers, the STS-120 astronauts are making their way out of the Operations and Checkout Building where the Crew Quarters are located. They are walking the short distance to the silver Astrovan that will carry them on the 20-minute ride to the launch pad.

7:45 a.m. - The Final Inspection Team has finished its detailed check of the vehicle and launch pad and is now heading back to the Launch Control Center to give their report.

7:43 a.m. - Coming to the end of the two hour and 30 minute built-in hold, at T-3 hours the countdown clock is once again ticking down toward today's liftoff. There are two more built-in holds in today's countdown, coming at the T-20 and T-9 minute marks.

7:30 a.m. - Launch day dawns at Launch Pad 39A, and space shuttle Discovery is silhouetted against the sky as the sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean. Inside the White Room, preparations continue in advance of the astronauts' arrival at the pad.

7:25 a.m. - The Final Inspection Team members are working on the mobile launch platform and can be seen moving around the boosters' aft skirts and the tail of space shuttle Discovery.

Back in Crew Quarters, the STS-120 astronauts just received their weather briefing, and two trans-Atlantic abort sites are available today: Spain's Moron and Istres, France, with Moron as the prime site.

7:15 a.m. - Stationed about 140 miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, NASA's booster recovery ships Freedom Star and Liberty Star stand ready to retrieve the two solid rocket boosters that will tumble into the ocean once they separate from the shuttle. The boosters are towed back to shore where they are refurbished and reused for future shuttle launches.

7:00 a.m. - Inside the Crew Quarters in the Operations and Checkout Building, the astronauts are getting ready to put on their pressurized launch-and-entry suits before departing for Launch Pad 39A.

6:55 a.m. - Kathy Winters, launch weather officer, has advised Launch Director Mike Leinbach that weather is currently "green" for launch.

Members of the Orbiter Closeout Crew are inside the White Room making final preparations for the astronauts to climb aboard Discovery, which should begin at about 8:18 this morning. The team is joined by today's Astronaut Support Personnel, led by astronaut Jose Hernandez. These astronauts assist in advance of the crew's arrival at the pad, and help them as they board Discovery.

6:35 a.m. - As members of the Final Inspection Team (also known as the Ice Team) finish the top-to-bottom examination of the shuttle and launch pad, they are using a new system that allows them to send images via a laptop computer back to the launch managers in the Launch Control Center.

6:30 a.m. - Good morning. The countdown to the launch of space shuttle Discovery is in the T-3 hour built-in hold and scheduled to resume at 7:43 a.m. Filling of Discovery's giant orange external tank with 500,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen was completed earlier, and both propellants will remain in stable replenish mode, meaning they are kept full until the final minutes of today's countdown.

In Crew Quarters, the seven astronauts are scheduled to receive a weather briefing within the hour before they begin suiting up. The astronauts will be assisted as they put on the familiar orange launch-and-entry suits before boarding the Astrovan for the trip to the launch pad, where they will take their seats aboard Discovery.

Launch remains on schedule for 11:38 a.m. and weather continues to be the only issue, with a 60-percent chance that it will prohibit liftoff today. Keeping track of today's weather conditions from the Shuttle Training Aircraft is astronaut Steve Lindsey, chief of the Astronaut Corps. There is a 10-minute launch window available, with the scheduled launch time occurring in the middle of that window.