T- 54 minutes and counting.

Technically 9 minutes and holing, but will hold for about 43 minutes.

woo hoo!

I think I'm just in time...yay!

15 minutes remaining in hold- favorable crosswinds.

All in flight computer systems operating. We do hope that they're not using Microsoft.

All systems GO! Countdown clock is rollin'! T- 9 mins.

*fingers crossed, sweating a tish*

T- 2 mins!

*tearing up*

Lift off! Godspeed, Discovery!

SRB sep!!!! Woo-hoo!!!

So -- if the weather is often so iffy in Florida -- why is the launch site in Florida?

I'm assuming it has to do with big Atlantic Ocean to dump crap in after launch, close to emergency landing site is Africa or some such -- or is it a great big porkbarrel thing for Florida?

You're right about the ocean and Africa, Psho (Spain is also a back-up landing site as well). There's a lot of talk has been given to using Vandenberg AFB as a launch site for post-Shuttle vehicles.

Goosebumps!

Goosebumps and kinda teary here too. I'm such a dork.

moonbird - many, many thanks for linking to Nasa. Neither the mister or I had ever watched a live launch and now we both have. *big hugs*

Whoo hoo, Discovery!! :) I'm so glad they got to take off... I just knew they were going to spot ice dropping out of that crack in the foam and have to delay it again.

I got to see the last Discovery launch (last summer) live and in person- I surprised at how emotional I got once it had launched.

Interesting tidbit -- NASA's initial space center was to be located in East Cambridge, MA (next to M.I.T.):

"[Kendall Square] has come a long way since the late '60s, when large swaths of dilapidated industrial buildings were razed to make way for a planned NASA space center. After President Kennedy's death, however, the NASA site wound up being built in Houston, Lyndon Johnson's home turf."

Also -- Leonard Nimoy grew up in East Cambridge.

Awesome! It's one of my greatest wishes to travel into space...

Space Bunnies?!?

psho, moonbird: Florida is also closer to the equator than most of the United States. This is quite important as it allows them to launch bigger payloads into space (the location of ESA's Kourou launch site is even better in this respect)

The ERC actually did exist for a time, ericb, but it wasn't built until after JFK's death and was closed under Nixon. It was never in competition with Houston as a space operations center.

FL is close to the equator, it allowed the Atlantic to be downrange, and so forth. There is always a certain pork component to the space program, though, and FL considers NASA one of its biggest "industries", as do TX and AB. The equatorial location is actually difficult for the Shuttle program, now, because it's harder to reach the orbital inclination of the International Space Station (an "abnormal" 51 degrees, the same as Mir, to accomodate the Russian launch site at Baikonur in Kazakhstan).

Vandenberg is better for polar orbits. Before Challenger, it was to be the launch site for the shuttle that would have been "owned" by USAF (Atlantis, I think), to put defense sats in orbit (or allegedly to investigate or capture Soviet birds). It's not a bad site for a more standard launch if you have a vehicle that has amphibious landing capability, like the Apollo-style Crew Expedition Vehicle they're planning. NASA is keen to try the Russian-style parachute landing, so it doesn't have to rely on the Navy. We'll see, I guess.

I have watched so many Shuttle launches I've lost track. I've lost confidence in NASA's risk management, though, and I was a bundle of nerves for this one. 15 minutes after MECO I was still visibly shaking (as I held a cup of bug juice).

stilicho -- thanks for the great info.

Pfft. Figures they launched without me. I watched both of the live NASA TV webcasts on Saturday and Sunday in their entirety and missed all kinds of good sleep. While the crew suitup, boarding and actual launch is nifty, the rest of it is brain churningly yawnful.

That said, I'd still gnaw off a limb to watch and hear Deke Slayton manning the consoles on a webcast for any mission. Including FOD patrol on the crawlway the long way to 39A.