We have lift off!!!

[Guest Glenn]

A successful launch at 12:39am aest. Speed will reach 17400mph to get it into orbit. That's moving!

 

Good to see it go.

 

 

[Guest Ultralights]

i just saw a video of the launch, and it showed another piece of debris fall off, though it was later in the flight, the SRBs had seperated... but it looked to me to be a piece of ice.. not only that, it took a birdstrike on the nose as well! and just in case there is another shuttle on standby for a rescue if needbe, by docking with the Space station and waiting to get the replacement shuttle up there. or docking 2 shuttles together, which will be a first..

 

i still think the shuttles will be perfect for a lunar flight!

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

I stayed up and watched it live on the net through NASA TV but was disappointed with the quality but that's the net for you. Couldn't turn the telly on to check if there was coverage, would of woken the sis up. :)

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

This from NASA -

 

It is a busy day for the STS114 crewmembers as Space Shuttle Discovery continues to close in on the International Space Station. Inspections of Discovery's heat shield began this morning about 5:40 a.m. EDT. Crewmembers are using cameras and a special boom on the robot arm to inspect Discovery's wings, nose cap, and crew cabin. Also, crewmembers are slated to use handheld cameras to inspect tiles on the Orbital Maneuvering System pods. The crew's inspections are slated to last seven hours.

 

Engineers on the ground are using the imagery and data from today?s inspections and from Tuesday's launch videos to determine the health of Discovery?s heat shield. The engineers continue to evaluate two debris events that were captured by video as Discovery climbed into space.

 

Other activities today include preparations for the crew?s three spacewalks and Discovery's arrival at the Space Station. Later today, Commander Eileen Collins will adjust Discovery?s orbit for Thursday?s docking scheduled for 7:18 a.m. EDT.

 

At 1 a.m. EDT today, Discovery was 6,516 miles behind the Station.

Photo gallery here :arrow: http://www.nasa.gov//returntoflight/multimedia/launchday2_gallery.html