WEATHER FORECAST FRIDAY: 60 PERCENT "GO" - The shuttle weather team is calling for a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions for space shuttle Discovery on Friday. They are watching for high winds in the wake of a cold front moving through Central Florida. Discovery is on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Friday's launch time is 3:04 p.m. EDT. There are no scheduled STS-133 news conferences on NASA Television today and no planned Space Shuttle Program Mission Management Team meetings today. The shuttle team will convene at 5 a.m. Friday to assess the weather before giving a “go" or "no-go” decision to fill Discovery’s external tank. More (Source: NASA - Nov 5)
WEATHER DELAYS THURSDAY'S LAUNCH ATTEMPT FOR SHUTTLE DISCOVERY - NASA has delayed today's scheduled launch of space shuttle Discovery, due to rain showers and low clouds expected at launch time. Discovery was set to launch on its final mission at 3:39 p.m. Thursday, but weather forecasts called for multiple weather violations during that time. "Our team was prepared and ready to execute tanking this morning," said Pete Nickolenko, the assistant launch director. "Our tanking weather would have been acceptable, however the launch forecast continues to be poor More (Source: Central Florida News - Nov 4)
DELTA II WITH COSMO-4 SUFFERS THIRD SCRUB IN A ROW - The Delta II’s final scheduled commercial launch is struggling to get off the ground, after scrubbing for the third time in a row on Tuesday night. The United Launch Alliance (ULA) vehicle is aiming to loft COSMO-4 - the fourth and last COSMO-SkyMed radar imaging satellite – into orbit for the Italian government from Space Launch Complex 2W at the Vandenberg Air Force Base. The mission – re-arranged to Thursday at 7:20pm PDT – will mark the 350th launch of a Delta rocket. More (Source: NASASpaceflight.com - Nov 3)
MMT TO MEET WEDNESDAY ON ELECTRICAL ISSUES - The Prelaunch Mission Management Team wants to give engineers more time to look deeply into two electrical issues from a main engine computer controller that cropped up this morning. Therefore, the launch of space shuttle Discovery on STS-133 has been delayed until at least Thursday. Mike Moses, chair of the MMT, said the problems are believed to be tied to a circuit breaker in the shuttle's cockpit. More (Source: NASA - Nov 3)
CALIF. ROCKET LAUNCH DELAYED FOR TECHNICAL TROUBLE - Air Force officials say a California launch has been postponed for a satellite that scientists and the military will use for observation of Earth. Vandenberg Air Force Base spokesman Jeremy Eggers says the Delta II rocket scheduled for takeoff from the base Sunday night will be delayed until Monday. A statement from the United Launch Alliance says that after countdown began a heater designed to keep one of the rocket's engine components warm during fueling didn't work properly and forced the delay. More (Source: San Jose Mercury News - Nov 2)
CHINA LAUNCHES SIXTH SATELLITE ORBITER - China on Monday successfully launched its sixth orbiter which will form part of its indigenous satellite navigation and positioning network. A Long March-3C carrier rocket carrying the "Beidou," or Compass navigation satellite took off at 0:26 am today from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. More (Source: Times of India - Nov 2)
SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY TO TAKE OFF WEDNESDAY - NASA officials said Saturday they are confident that space shuttle Discovery's Wednesday launch will go as scheduled, sending a crew of six astronauts to the International Space Station on an 11-day mission. NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding said mechanical repairs on the shuttle's system used to pressurize Discovery's right hand Orbital Maneuvering System Pod have been successful. "Right now we're in a good path to get there," Spaulding said. More (Source: CNN - Oct 31)
EUTELSAT DECLARES CRAFT TOTAL LOSS AFTER PROPELLANT LEAK - The Eutelsat W3B communications satellite launched Thursday evening fell victim to a significant propellant leak shortly after separating from its Ariane 5 rocket, prompting the company to declare the five-ton spacecraft a total loss. The Paris-based satellite communications firm announced the anomaly early Friday, just hours after a seemingly flawless launch was declared successful after deployments of two payloads. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 30)
DISCOVERY'S LAST CREW ARRIVES FOR LAUNCH - The six astronauts who will fly on space shuttle Discovery during its historic final flight have arrived at their Florida launch site for the planned Monday launch, after a slight delay due to an aircraft glitch. Discovery commander Steve Lindsey and four of his crewmates began landing their NASA T-38 jets here at Kennedy Space Center at about 3 p.m. ET. A plane swap for the sixth crew member, mission specialist Alvin Drew, delayed his arrival by an hour. More (Source: MSNBC - Oct 30)
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