Will the Space Shuttle Discovery launch this weekend for a 'pedestrian mission'?

[Astronuc]

Sept. 9, 9:10 a.m. EDT

The hatch into Atlantis' crew cabin has been sealed for flight following the strapping in of all six STS-115 astronauts inside the ship. Commander Brent Jett and his crew are now setting switches and bringing the orbiter's systems online as the countdown to an 11:15 a.m. launch ticks on.

Today's weather around Kennedy Space Center is nicely suited for a space shuttle launch. The current temperature is approaching 80 degrees, with light winds and only a few scattered clouds dotting the sky.

Launch in about 30 minutes!

 

[neutrino]

A minute to go!

 

[neutrino]

IT's up...

 

[Astronuc]

Looking great on 3 engines to orbit.

MCO confirmed.

 

[Astronuc]

Shuttle Atlantis has safely returned to KSFC!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/multimedia/sts115/landing/landing.html

STS-115 concluded.

 

[Astronuc]

Another lauch (STS-116) coming up in about 4 and 1/2 hrs - conditions permitting.

This will be a night launch, at about 8:57 pm EST.

Launch can be viewed live in various on-line video media.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Beautiful!

 

[EL]

First Swede in space!

 

[Astronuc]

There have been a couple of shuttle launches (STS-117 (Atlantis) and 118(Endeavor)) already this year, and the third is STS-120 with Discovery

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts120/index.html

Have a safe trip guys!


STS-119 is under review with most other flights for 2008 and beyond.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html