Fri, Feb 25, 2011
Liftoff Came With Just Two Seconds To Spare In Launch
Window
Space shuttle Discovery rode a brilliant trail of fire and smoke
Thursday afternoon as it soared into orbit for an important mission
to the International Space Station. The launch came after a
last-minute technical glitch with the Air Force's Eastern Range
that left only four seconds in the launch window and a practical
limit of two seconds because of draining requirements with the
external fuel tank.
"It was one more second than Mike Leinbach (shuttle launch
director) needed to get the job done, so there was plenty of
margin," said Mike Moses, chairman of the Mission Management Team.
Still, he joked, "I could use a little less heart palpitations in
the final seconds of the countdown."
Leinbach said launch simulations have conditioned the team of
controllers to handle the pressures of last-second "go" decisions
without jeopardizing a mission. "This was one for the record
books," Leinbach said. "It may have seemed a little rushed to
people on the outside. It's a testament to the team that we have
practiced for this."
The launch of the shuttle was not the only thing to happen in
space exploration on launch day. Just as Discovery's tank finished
being fueled, a cargo-carrying Automated Transfer Vehicle from the
Eurpoean Space Agency docked to the station. The spacecraft, which
carried no people, launched from South America last week on an
Ariane V.
"This is a pretty tremendous day in spaceflight for us," said
Bll Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space
Operations. "For us to be sitting here today with both of these
events occurring as they did is pretty amazing."
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