Final liftoff for the Shuttle Discovery today

[SETIsLady]

NASA began fueling its most traveled shuttle shortly after sunrise Thursday. The weather outlook has improved to 90% "go" for the 4:50 p.m. (2150 GMT) liftoff.

This time, NASA is confident no hydrogen gas will leak and no cracks will develop in the fuel tank. Both problems cropped up during the initial countdown in November. The repairs took almost four months.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/sp ... csp=34news

I will be watching from my patio, and praying for a safe flight.

[rev6 8]

Looks like the end of an era is upon us. hope all is well for the final flight of the shuttle.

[Swerdloc]

The Spaceflightnow live feed is streaming here:

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/status.html

[Live365]

According to Arthur C. Clarke, we'd be on Jupiter by now. I stopped seeing the point of the space shuttle years ago, but this is a sad day.

[Swerdloc]

Bear in mind that this is not the final shuttle flight; it's the final flight for Discovery. There are two more flights now scheduled, in April and the summer.

[Swerdloc]

Herbie Hancock just showed up to chat with Miles O'Brien and Leroy Chaio on the Spaceflightnow.com coverage! Another member of Space Cadet Nation!

[Dude111]

Here is the liftoff captured by someone in an airplane!

http://www.youtube.com/v/GE_USPTmYXM

[Riddick]

Would you believe... though Space Shuttle Discovery is on 'The Voyage Home' from its final flight and on track for a noontime touchdown Wednesday, ahead of undocking from the International Space Station its crew received a specially styled "Star Trek" message during their Monday morning wake-up call - from none other than Captain James T. Kirk?

It's true! In public voting from a Top 40 list, the "Theme from Star Trek" came in second in NASA's Song contest, earning the tune a spot on the wakeup call sheet - with the added bonus of William Shatner himself providing narration of the custom-designed-for-the-occasion introduction: YOUTUBE | DIALUP