Goooooooooo!

If all goes as expected, Discovery will launch late tomorrow afternoon from the Kennedy Space Center, marking the end of a two year stand-down from manned spaceflight. There's a lot riding on this mission (in addition to the seven men and women aboard the Orbiter itself).

The last Shuttle launch I attended close-up was STS-65 (Columbia) on July 8th of 2004. A friend wrangled VIP seating for us, so we were pretty close (a bit north of the VAB). Man, what a sight! Seeing it on TV doesn't do it justice - the sound I can only describe as a cross between ripping heavy fabric, and about twenty people pounding the bejeezus out of bass drums. Of course, it takes a little while for the sound to arrive - by the time the sound hits the bleachers, the mains and SRBs have already fired, and the Orbiter is clear of the tower. At that point, everyone is shouting - usually "Go!" or some variation on the theme.

There are better seats in the house, but they're not available unless you work for the Air Force or NASA. Take my friend Steve, for example. For the launch of Discovery, he's part of the Forward Observer-Ground (FOG) team. He gets to hang out well within the danger area, sitting on top of a van. He's the person that makes the call as to what the vehicle is doing in the first 30 seconds or so of flight: when did the vehicle clear the tower, is it following the correct flight profile, etc.

Good luck Discovery!