This is the second flight in total since the Columbia disaster, and almost a year after the first flight
Amir Burnett, the Israel Astronomical Society and Avi Blizovsky
22:50 p.m., a few minutes before the launch scheduled for 22:48 p.m., NASA announced its cancellation due to fear of disturbances caused by the weather. The next possible date is tomorrow, Sunday at 22:26.
At the same time, NASA is examining the meaning of the fault in the sensor of one of the shuttle's auxiliary engines that are used by it in space, among other things for the meeting with the International Space Station. NASA says that it is not a problem preventing the flight.
One hour and ten minutes to launch the Discovery
21: 40 Update
The shuttle engines received flight clearance from the control team. The weather is still a problem, about twenty minutes before the launch (the update on the NASA website is from 21:30). The members of the Discovery team have fastened their seat belts and the airlock is closed. The shuttle is ready for launch after Launch 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Rescue ships are waiting in the Atlantic Ocean to collect the solid fuel tanks. The boosters used from the sea will be refurbished and used in another space shuttle launch.
Steven Linsey commands the shuttle which includes five American astronauts: pilot Mark Kelly and astronauts Michael Possum, Lisa Novak, Stephanie Wilson and Pierre Sellers, as well as one German astronaut - Thomas Reiter. This will be the 18th flight to the International Space Station and the 32nd in the number of the Discovery.
On board the shuttle is the logistics component built for the rapid transfer of supplies to the space station by the Italian Space Agency. The component is now filled with supplies of various types.
21: 20 Update
The American space agency, NASA, continues the final preparations for the planned launch of the space shuttle "Discovery". The astronauts and crew members boarded the shuttle and took their places on board. The YNET website reports that earlier this evening (Saturday) the French news agencies reported that NASA is considering postponing the launch due to a malfunction in one of the shuttle's thermometers. After technical tests and consultation, it was finally decided to proceed with the launch as planned, at 21:49, Israel time. Discovery is NASA's oldest space shuttle, with dozens of successful missions behind it.
Shuttle Commander Lindsey takes his seat for the launch
The countdown to the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery STS 121 continues
Update 19:50 (Amir Brent)
At this time, the astronauts enter the space passages for launch at 21:49. The shuttle crew consists of five astronauts who were previously test pilots and two scientific astronauts, on Monday the shuttle will dock with the International Space Station where it will bring supplies and another crew member, for the first time since the Columbia space shuttle crash a three-person crew will remain on the space station.
The weather reports threaten to a small extent the launch from the space passages, if there are significantly more clouds and lightning, the launch will be postponed. Another problem that threatened the launch is that of one of the guidance engines whose heating did not function, but this problem can be overcome with the help of the other guidance engines.
At the moment of transition in T-2, that is, two hours before the launch, the crew is put into the cockpit and begins to check the sensors, verifying proper communication with the launch center (Kennedy Space Center) and the control center (Johnson Space Center), after that the cockpit will close and the assistance team will move away from the launch area.
At T-20 minutes the clocks will stop for about 10 minutes for another repetition of the launch procedures and additional tests. When the rest of the countdown resumes, the shuttle's computers will go into "takeoff mode".
At T-9 minutes, a final stop of the countdown is planned for final confirmation before take-off, from this stage some of the operations will be carried out automatically - pulling the arm through which the crew reached the shuttle. In the T-31 seconds, the transitions will already be quite independent and will only need assistance in holding them perpendicular to the ground.
10 seconds before the launch the hydrogen combustion system will be activated and sparks will be seen, 6.6 seconds before the launch the main engines will be activated and shortly after - the takeoff.
