Leisure … more than a word, it's a lifestyle

We made an early start today to watch as space shuttle Discovery, NASA’s fleet leader and the world’s most flown spacecraft, lifted off for the last time to be delivered to the Smithsonian for its permanent display.

Discovery took off riding piggyback on a NASA Shuttle Carrier aircraft, a modified Boeing 747, from Kennedy Space Center just after dawn at 6:58 a.m. ET.  She departed the runway and headed south along the Florida coastline and beach to give the public a last chance to see the shuttle in flight. It was a bittersweet moment as she came into view.

We were stationed at Patrick Air Force Base and it was the perfect location as Discovery flew by and then made a sweeping circle back over the Base before heading north for a 3.5 hour journey to Washington. The spacecraft will be displayed in Virginia at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Here’s some video:

Welcome home Discovery!

The oldest of NASA’s surviving shuttles, Discovery is home and has racked up nearly 150 million miles as it ended it’s final journey today. It has accumulated more than 39 missions in nearly 27 years and spent 365 days total in space. It flew to the International Space Station 13 times and made the first shuttle rendezvous with Russia’s Mir station in 1995.

Discovery first flew in 1984 and carried the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit six years later. It’s flown 184 astronauts, including John Glenn at age 77 in 1998.

Here’s a by-the-numbers look at Discovery’s lasting legacy in space that, according to NASA, will cement the shuttle’s place in the fleet’s record books:

148,221,675: The number of miles Discovery has traveled after 39 space missions. This is a distance record unmatched among NASA’s space shuttle fleet.   The miles traveled by Discovery could have carried it to the moon and back more than 288 times, or on 1 1/2 trips to the sun.

40,000: The number of spectators, according to NASA estimates, who watched Discovery’s final launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Feb. 24, 2011.

17,400: The speed at which Discovery traveled (in miles per hour) to remain in orbit. It’s about Mach 25, or five times the speed of a bullet.

5,830: The number of orbits Discovery has flown around the Earth after its final flight. During spaceflight, Discovery completes one orbit around Earth every 90 minutes.

1984: The year Discovery blasted off on its maiden space voyage. Discovery’s first flight was NASA’s STS-41D mission, which launched on Aug. 30 carrying three communications satellites and an experimental solar array wing. The mission was commanded by astronaut Henry Hartsfield.

365: The number of cumulative days Discovery will have flown in space by the end of its career. Altogether, that’s 52 weeks. Put another way, if you were to string all of Discovery’s mission’s together into one mission, the shuttle would be in space for exactly an entire year.

246: The number of crew members Discovery has carried during its space career so far. According to NASA, Discovery has been the ultimate space taxi and carried the most astronauts of any shuttle.

39: The number of missions Discovery will have flown by the time it is retired.

13: The number of times Discovery will have docked with the International Space Station after it is retired.

5: The number of astronauts that marked a first-ever in space when they flew on Discovery. According to NASA, they include: the first female to ever pilot a spacecraft (former astronaut Eileen Collins);  the oldest person to fly in space (former astronaut John Glenn); the first African-American to perform a spacewalk (former astronaut Bernard Harris); the first cosmonaut to fly on an American spacecraft (Russian spaceflyer Sergei Krikalev); and the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space (former Utah Senator Jake Garn).

4: The number of years it took to build the space shuttle Discovery.   The shuttle was completed in October 1983 in Palmdale, Calif., and was shipped a month later to NASA piggyback atop the agency’s modified Boeing 747 shuttle carrier craft. Four is also the maximum number of times the shuttle has flown in space in a single year. In 1985, Discovery set the bar for number of flights by one orbiter in one year.

3: The number of satellites Discovery carried during its first launch. Discovery was also NASA’s third space shuttle built for orbital flight. It was built after the shuttles Columbia and Challenger.

2: The number of return-to-flight missions Discovery has flown to help NASA resume shuttle flights. Discovery was the shuttle that flew the STS-26 mission two years after the loss of the shuttle Challenger and its crew during launch on Jan. 28, 1986. The shuttle also flew the STS-114 mission that followed the 2003 loss of shuttle Columbia and its seven-astronaut crew. That mission launched in July 2005.

1: The number of actual dockings with Russia’s Space Station Mir. Discovery actually visited the Mir station twice. It was the first U.S. shuttle to rendezvous with (but not dock at) Mir in 1995. Its second and last trip to Mir was in 1998, when it actually linked up with the Russian space station.

Sad to say but Space Shuttle Discovery is almost at the end of its nearly 27-year flying career. It’s scheduled to return to Earth just before noon tomorrow for the final time and just a day away from landing, Discovery’s astronauts received the first-ever live wake-up music in the history of the shuttle program this morning, a tune that was written in honor of the world’s most traveled spaceship.

The lead guitarist of Big Head Todd and the Monsters performed a solo version of “Blue Sky” … a song written by the group at the request of the 2005 crew of Discovery, which returned NASA to orbit following the Columbia tragedy. It ended up the top vote-getter in NASA’s pick-the-wake-up-music contest to mark the end of the shuttle program, just a few months away with only two missions remaining.

Shuttle commander Steven Lindsey thanked Mission Control for the special recording and at first, he didn’t realize the acoustic performance was live until Todd Park Mohr radioed his greetings. Commander Lindsey and his crew then began a test of the shuttle’s systems before the six astronauts held a ceremony to mark Discovery’s final flight.

Discovery is the world’s most flown spaceship and now faces life as a museum display. It’s the first of NASA’s three space shuttles to be retired and NASA will spend several months decommissioning Discovery before sending it to the Smithsonian Institution to live out its days.

It’s a great shame the program is coming to an end and it is the beginning of the end of a very special era. NASA managers contend the fleet still has lots of flying lifetime left but the agency is under presidential direction to aim for true outer space, which means giving up the shuttles, which are confined to orbit.

Just two shuttle launches will remain: Endeavour next month and Atlantis at the end of June. So, if you are in the Orlando area at the moment, you might just want to make the short journey over to the coast and watch the shuttle come into land… and hear those sonic booms emanate from Discovery for the final time.

Here’s some video our team took live from Kennedy Space Center a couple of days ago of the final launch of Space Shuttle Discovery.

It was almost four months late but Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off under clear blue skies this afternoon on its final mission to the International Space Station before it is retired next month. The 27-year-old orbiter, with a crew of six astronauts, roared from the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center at 4:53 p.m. as tens of thousands of spectators cheered NASA’s oldest and most-traveled shuttle.

“The final liftoff of Discovery,” exulted Mike Curie, NASA’s launch commentator, “a tribute to the dedication, hard work and pride of America’s space shuttle team.”

It was the 39th liftoff for Discovery. Its 11-day mission, commanded by space veteran Steve Lindsey, will deliver supplies and a humanoid robot to the International Space Station.

The launch marks the beginning of the end of the space-shuttle program, 30 years after NASA began launching reusable, do-all spaceships into orbit to do everything from launching satellites to building the space station itself. After Endeavour in April and Atlantis,now set for June, NASA will have no manned-space rocket for the first time in 60 years.

Today’s launch was delayed a little over three minutes by a computer glitch experienced by the U.S. Air Force Range Safety Office, which assures that the Atlantic Ocean downrange from KSC is clear of ship and airplane traffic but lift-off occurred with seconds to spare before the launch window closed.

“We had about two seconds of hold time remaining, which is about one second more than Mike [Leinbach] needed to get the job done, so we had plenty of margin,” quipped Launch Committee Chairman Mike Moses.

Leinbach acknowledged a “fairly large size” chunk of insulating foam fell from Discovery’s fuel tank nearly four minutes into flight. But he said that was late enough into the flight that engineers weren’t worried the foam did any damage to the orbiter.

Throngs of people watched the launch from vantage points all along the Space Coast. Among those in the VIP area were Florida Gov. Rick Scott, watching the first launch since he took office in January, as well as U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden.

In addition to Lindsey, 50, a retired Air Force fighter pilot who flew dozens of missions in Iraq, the crew includes pilot Eric Boe, 45, an Air Force colonel and fellow fighter-pilot veteran; and mission specialists Alvin Drew, 47; Michael Barratt, 51, a medical doctor; Nicole Stott, a former mission engineer at Kennedy Space Center; and Steve Bowen, 47.

Bowen replaced Tim Kopra, who was injured in a mid-January bicycle accident. Bowen flew aboard Atlantis last May and will be the first astronaut to fly on consecutive shuttle missions.

Discovery was originally planned to lift off on Nov. 1. But a hydrogen leak, followed by the discovery of cracks in the insulating foam and some support rods on the fuel tank, caused a lengthy delay as NASA engineers labored to identify a cause and a fix.

The highlight of the mission will be delivery of Robonaut 2, otherwise known as R2, a 40-inch robot built by General Motors that looks like a human from the torso up, with capabilities to one day be an active member of the space station crew.

R2 will spend the next year or so attached to a stand in the U.S. lab on the space station, simply being tested in zero-gravity and doing such things as turning knobs, plugging things in and other simple manipulation tasks.

NASA expects to upgrade and reprogram R2 so that it becomes a mechanical member of the crew. Eventually, it will get legs or some manner of lower body and be able to work with astronauts on simple tasks such as vacuuming, or more-complex maintenance and repairs and assisting astronauts on space walks. Finally, it could become a caretaker or experiment tender, working on assignments after astronauts have left.

NASA first began developing the robot 15 years ago, and the R2 model – the second generation of the concept — was developed in partnership with General Motors, at a cost of about $2.5 million per robot. Two have been built.

From waist to head, it stands 3-feet-4 inches and weighs 330 pounds. Built primarily of aluminum and steel, it has a soft, fleshy exterior, designed so that astronauts would not be hurt if they banged into it. R2′s arms give it an 8-foot wingspan. Its head is equipped with eight cameras. Its computer brain is in its torso.

For now, it will remain in a crate until the space station astronauts finish more-pressing tasks and have the time to set it up. Robonaut 2 has only a one-way ticket to space, and it’s been waiting for months inside Discovery’s hold.

Space shuttle Discovery with its crew of seven astronauts roared into orbit this morning. It was a wonderful site to see it arcing over the horizon just before sunrise as it started its journey to the International Space Station.

There are now just three launches left as the agency races to stock the space station with spares, supplies and scientific gear before the shuttle fleet is retired later this year.

On this journey, Discovery is carrying eight tons of cargo and science equipment for the station’s laboratories. The 13-day mission, dubbed the “Experiment Express,” has three planned spacewalks to to install a fresh ammonia tank assembly for the lab’s coolant system and retrieve a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior.

Discovery is commanded by Navy Captain Alan Poindexter, the crew includes rookie pilot James Dutton, flight engineer Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki and veteran spacewalkers Richard Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson.

This is the last shuttle flight to have a crew of seven and this is the first time that four women will be in space at one time as Metcalf-Lindenburger, Wilson and Yamazaki join up with  NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson who is already onboard the station.

The main goal of Discovery on this trip is to deliver supplies that will keep the station operating long after shuttles have been sent to become museum attractions and while no-one quite knows what will happen once these supplies run out  I’m sure there’s a game plan…as I’ll reveal later.

During this mission the crew will be unpacking “Leonardo,” an Italian-made orbital moving van the size of a small bus. Also known as a Multi-Purpose Logistic Module, or MPLM, Leonardo is loaded with science experiments and precious cargo, including a new crew sleep station and a lab freezer.

Shuttle Discovery is pretty well loaded on this mission and evidence of that is the fact that it is estimated that it will take 100 man hours to unload into the ISS.

So while the astronauts are kept busy, the attention of many will likely to be on Kennedy Space Center as President Barack Obama  is scheduled to make a speech on April 15  in regard to his plans for spaceflight after the shuttles are retired.

Obama created something of a furor in the aerospace community in February when he proposed killing NASA’s Constellation program, which had been aimed at returning astronauts to the moon. The end of the shuttle program and the canceling of NASA’s planned replacement program means thousands of looming job losses at KSC and other NASA centers so we’ll all hold our breathe as the White House maintains that its plan to outsource crew and cargo flights to private space companies and replace Constellation with a rocket technology development program will put the agency on a more sustainable footing and will ultimately provide a more a diversified space sector that will lead to more aerospace jobs over the long term. Who are we to question them given everything that’s happened in the last 18 months?

Space Shuttle Discovery certainly made itself known as it flew through clouds to land safely at Cape Canaveral this afternoon. There I was watching on TV from the comfort of my hammock and although I was expecting the sonic boom, it certainly startled me a little as it was one of the loudest I’ve heard in a long time.

It reminded me of around 15 years ago, shortly after buying my first home in Florida, I was lying in bed and heard the house shake. “Typical” thought I, “I’ve only gone and bought a house in an earthquake zone”. Fortunately it turned out to be a shuttle coming in to land but it was of those moments I certainly remembered.

The shuttle has been on a 13 day mission to take the last piece of the space station’s backbone, a $300 million girder containing the fourth and final set of the solar wing panels. Returning with the shuttle on this trip was Sandra Magnus who has spent the best part of four months at the space station carrying out her duties as a flight engineer.

So, that’s the first of five planned shuttle missions for 2009. Can’t wait to see the next missions…click here for my blog on the launch of Discovery on 15 March and click here for details of my trip to Kennedy Space Center.

Space Shuttle Discovery over Cumbrian Lakes

Last night was yet again one of those occassions where it’s great to be alive and living in Florida. We got to see a terrific launch as Space Shuttle Discovery set off to the International Space Station. This time Discovery had on board the final set of solar arrays which are needed to complete the station’s complement of electricity generating solar panels which will help the station support the expanded crew of six people later this year.

For those of you interested in a great day out, Kennedy Space Center is a terrific place to go. Last May I wrote a blog that you might like to see again by clicking here  and I also created a pictorial of Kennedy Space Center of some of the things you can expect to see when you are there. Click here for more details.