Space Shuttle Discovery (STS133)

[leeo45]

My older daughter, my granddaughter, and I are headed down to Florida on Wednesday for the Space Shuttle launch on Thursday.    My 3 year-old granddaughter wants to "see a rocket ship".    My daughter (her mom) attended the very first Shuttle launch when she was only a few months old.   My college roommate, who also went with us to the first launch, is riding down Tuesday on his Yamaha.
 
STS-133 will be the 35th U.S. mission to the International Space Station. This flight will carry the fourth ExPRESS Logistics Carrier with spare parts for the station and the Permanent Multipurpose Module which will be added to the Space Station.   NASA is working on a photo op with the Russians to get a picture of the Shuttle docked to the ISS.

Unless NASA and Congress change the plans, there will only be two more Shuttle missions.   The Shuttle Endeavour is currently planned for April 19 and the Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for June 28; in case anyone wants to run down to see.   The Atlantis launch doesn't have final Congressional funding yet, so Endeavour could be the final launch.

Launch time: 2150 GMT (4:50 p.m. EST) - Thursday, 24February
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida


(Shuttle Discovery - Picture from SpaceFlightNow Ben Cooper)



(Shuttle Discovery - Picture from SpaceFlightNow Stephen Clark)

[photomd]

Wow...am I jealous: what a cool trip. 

[Renegade]

Awesome, simply awesome.

[leeo45]

We watched from Space View Park in Titusville.  It is about as close as you can get these days (11.2 miles from the launch pad -39A).  Despite the distance, the launch is still very impressive in person.   I think we get overly accustomed to seeing special effects on TV, so seeing something like this in person is a special opportunity.  

Here are a few of the pictures my daughter took:





Solid rocket booster separation (just over 2 minutes into flight @ 3,000mph, over 30 miles altitude, 45 miles downrange)

[Gar]

I watched on NASATV online. It was cool - seeing them from the drive up through lift-off. BTW, I thought I saw something come off the Shuttle on the detach of the main booster.

[Last-in-line]

I watched it from Melbourne Beach, 47 miles away.  It still was impressive!  Cloudy conditions resulted in about 15 seconds of observation.  Still fun, I'll always remember it.