STS-131 updates

[garyw]

Launch updates, throttle down will occur at mach 0.82 and throttle up at mach 1.10

 

[SiberianTiger]

It's going to launch on sunrise. Will the weather allow observing the ascent?

---------- Post added at 13:13 ---------- Previous post was at 13:12 ----------

For the watchers,

Webcams
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/video/

Audio Only
http://www.nasa.gov/178952main_Mission_Audio_UP.asx


150kbit/s
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1369080
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368161

300 kpbs
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1369081
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368162

500 kpbs
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368570

1200kbit/s
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368163

RealPlayer
http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram
QuickTime
http://www.nasa.gov/qtl/151335main_NASA_TV_QT.qtl

Live Log
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts131/status.html

 

[garyw]

It's going to launch on sunrise. Will the weather allow observing the ascent?

Yes. Weather is light clouds with a tiny amount of fog at one end of the runway. it's looking fairly good.

 

[Star Voyager]

ISS now visible to KSC and other Central Florida viewers. I myself just ran outside and saw it ! And everyone says "go" for launch!

 

[garyw]

Everything is go, 2 mins 2 seconds from picking up the count. That shot of the ISS from the Cape is awesome

 

[SiberianTiger]

I wish I were there...

 

[Quick_Nick]

A great time to launch! Looks really nice!

---------- Post added at 05:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:21 AM ----------

Booster sep.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Is it just me, or did she somewhat slip horizontally right after liftoff?

---------- Post added at 14:25 ---------- Previous post was at 14:23 ----------

Wow, the sunrise is beautiful! :hail:

 

[Donamy]

That's to get away from the pad before the roll, I believe.

 

[Quick_Nick]

MECO! External Tank seperation. OMS-1 not required.

---------- Post added at 05:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:29 AM ----------

Nice plasma.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Great launch!

Not that I saw it however, because my internet connection cut out at T-10 seconds, as per usual. That's the third time running it has done that. It's fine for 5 hours, 59 minutes, but that one minute I really need it to work, it doesn't.
I swear someone's doing it deliberately. They just wait to see the HO2 igniters activate, then they cut my feed. It's all a big conspiracy. They're probably watching me right now. :shifty:
(In case you can't tell, I'm a little hacked off at my internet connection, or rather my lack of it, right now. )

---------- Post added at 01:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

Okay, here's my usual deluge of post-launch info!

BBC News: Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off from Florida.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvZH-nhuxgo"]YouTube- Discovery and STS-131 Crew 2 Days from ISS[/nomedia]


Hi-res launch photos.

Track Discovery & ISS together.

Live webcam showing LC-39A, now minus Discovery.

 

[Yoda]

Problem with the KU-Band antenna ???????

 

[DaveS]

Problem with the KU-Band antenna ???????

Yes. They're troubleshooting the problems right now.

 

[Yoda]

What's the problem (just caught the tail end of it on NASA TV), and what does it mean for the mission as a whole ?

 

[McWgogs]

There are some fancy photos on spaceweather.com of the sun illuminated SSME exhaust

 

[DaveS]

What's the problem (just caught the tail end of it on NASA TV), and what does it mean for the mission as a whole ?

Currently the Ku antenna is not working, which means they won't have the capability to downlink TV/large data from the orbiter. It also means the loss of the rendezvous radar.

Right now there's no real impact to the mission.

 

[SiberianTiger]

There are some fancy photos on spaceweather.com of the sun illuminated SSME exhaust

That's what I was expecting. Thank you! :thumbup:

 

[DaveS]

The problem is with EA2 in the KU antenna's DEA. Noticed strange telemetry coming from both EA1 and EA2 during the initial self-test following the deploy. Tried to use a different TDRS, with no effect. Next step is to power-cycle the DEA and perform another self-test.

---------- Post added at 04:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 PM ----------

Doing the Ku power-cycle.

---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:03 PM ----------

Power-cycling the Ku did not work. Tried it twice, with the same result.

 

[garyw]

I assume all comms are via S-Band until this is resolved?

 

[DaveS]

I assume all comms are via S-Band until this is resolved?

Yes, this is standard when the Ku is not available.