NASA to Launch Discovery on Tuesday

Update:

(CNN) -- NASA administrator Michael Griffin announced Thursday afternoon the space shuttle's return to flight in July.

"Based on a very thorough and very successful flight readiness review, we're currently go for launch of Discovery on July 13," Griffin said.

More...

Hurricane Dennis may delay launch:

Kennedy Space Center, Florida - Keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Dennis, NASA Managers expect to decide by noon Friday whether to roll back the shuttle “Discovery” to the Vehicle Assembly Building or keep it on the launch pad for next Wednesday’s scheduled lift-off.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- Countdown clocks
at the Kennedy Space Center blinked to life for the first time in 2 1/2
years Sunday as NASA made final preparations for shuttle Discovery's
planned liftoff three days from now.

More here.

According to this article:

Discovery and its crew of seven were set to blast off at 3:51 p.m. EDT on a flight to the international space station.

But, according to the Today Show, NASA was making repairs to the shuttle as late as last night and they are behind schedule this morning. One official is quoted as saying that the 40% chance of thunderstorms today may delay the launch.

Many parts of Florida can still see the shuttle as it rises in the sky without having to be right at the launch pad, so here's hoping people have their cameras with them today should it launch without a hitch.

According to this article:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA scrapped Wednesday's launch of the first shuttle flight in 2 1/2 years because of a fuel gauge that mistakenly read full instead of empty, a frustrating setback to the agency's bid to get back into space after the Columbia tragedy.

Some reports indicate the launch has been tentatively re-scheduled for some time in September.

According to this AP article:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's first shuttle flight in more than two years has been put off indefinitely as the space agency mounts a massive investigation into why a fuel gauge failed right before Discovery's scheduled liftoff.

Engineers were no closer Friday to knowing why the gauge acted up two days earlier.

The shuttle Discovery could fly Tuesday despite
a technical problem that NASA managers hope to overcome during the
countdown. The shuttle and crew of seven are set to blast off no
earlier than 10:39 a.m., officials said late Wednesday.

FMI: Return to Flight

According to USA Today:

CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) — NASA said Sunday it will launch the first space
shuttle flight in 2½ years, even if the fuel gauge problem that halted
the previous countdown two weeks ago resurfaces.

More: NASA's Return to Flight page.

I brought my camera to work today with the hopes of being able to capture images from the top level of my company's parking garage. Fellow employees and others have indicated that they were able to see launches in the past from such levels in the Tampa Bay area.

Well, myself and dozens of other employees made it to the top and listened to a battery operated radio as they broadcast the launch. We waited. And waited. The skies in the Tampa Bay area were so hazy and cloudy, we saw nothing. Zip. Nada.

Very happy to see another NowPublic member had success capturing some images of the launch!

The space shuttle Discovery has been cleared to return to earth on Monday, according to local television news reports. No additional repairs are necessary.

CNN is running a story on the families of the astronauts:

It's been an emotional and bumpy ride for the families of
Discovery's astronauts, "almost like a soap opera," Youngs said Friday.

Unlike
past missions where there were no cameras showing every little ding and
chip in orbit, Discovery has been under magnified scrutiny as the first
shuttle to fly after the loss of Columbia in 2003. And that's meant
some frightening information for families to absorb.

The Shuttle Discovery is expected to land in Florida some time around 4:46 a.m. EST on Monday. According to local news reports, even the Tampa Bay area is supposed to be able to see it as it goes overhead but due to the pre-dawn hour, it may be too dark for most people to see or photograph.

In the meantime:

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Discovery departed from the International Space station on Saturday and glided off on its own in the first step toward the shuttle's risky return to Earth.
 

Related story:

CAPE CANAVERAL - They
will line up the trucks and helicopters for a rescue. They will gather
and watch and wait. They will light the brilliant beams that make a
white arrow on the runway to point Discovery home.

Many who work at Kennedy Space Center feel confident that this shuttle, unlike the last, will make a safe return Monday morning.

According to local television reports, the landing of Shuttle Discovery has been delayed due to weather in Florida. CNN breaking story:

"Unstable" weather conditions at the Florida landing site prompted NASA
to postpone this morning's planned landing of the space shuttle
Discovery for 24 hours. Another opportunity is expected Tuesday at 5:07
a.m. ET. it will be the first re-entry of a space shuttle since the
2003 Columbia disaster.

Related news story:

TAMPA
- Questionable weather above Florida forced NASA to wave off both
landing attempts for the space shuttle Discovery early Monday morning,
in the process sparing the bay area a potentially rude wake-up.

The flight plan for Discovery's first landing attempt would have
brought the returning orbiter on a track that crossed over western Cuba
and then southern Florida before spiraling to a landing at Kennedy
Space Center just after 4 a.m. But "unstable" weather, in the words of
NASA, pushed the landing back one orbit, on a track that would have
brought Discovery on a path nearly due east over St. Petersburg, Tampa
Bay, and then Tampa en route to the Cape.

NASA waves off shuttle landing in Florida

Bad weather prompted NASA officials today to wave off the space
shuttle's scheduled landing in Florida. Discovery is now slated to
touch down at Edwards Air Force Base in California about 8:12 a.m. ET.
The shuttle had two chances to land in Florida today -- at 5:07 a.m. ET
and 6:43 a.m. ET -- but Mission Control decided to send the craft to
California, where the skies are clear.

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Space shuttle Discovery and its
seven-member crew landed safely in the early-morning darkness Tuesday,
completing a return to manned space flight two years after its sister
spacecraft, Columbia, disintegrated on re-entry.