Time is ticking away.
The clouds aren't thinning.
The launch window is closing.
And now comes the announcement that the launch is scrubbed.
The astronauts will have to climb out of the seats they had fastened themselves into with such anticipation. Five of them have never been in orbit. They had toasted each other (with water) at dinner tonight. Good byes and good lucks had been said all around. But tonight the launch sequence was held at -5 minutes.
There was a man standing on a Florida hotel balcony with a clear view of the launch pad. It was going to be a spectacular sight. Smoke and fire and a deafening roar would accompany the lift-off. Breath would be held until the shuttle went past the point where the Challenger exploded. But no, none of that will happen tonight.
The balcony has cleared by now. The man is back in his hotel room, disappointed. He'll be home tomorrow and we'll talk of the missed opportunity. Was it a once-in-a-lifetime chance missed? Maybe. It would have been fun to compare notes - the balcony view and the internet view. Multi-camera angles vs. multi-sensory experience.
From the official NASA launch blog:
9:34 p.m. - 1 minute, 30 seconds of window remaining. We're still waiting on the weather.
9:36 p.m. - We have exceeded our launch window for today, and without clear, convincing evidence of favorable weather, tonight's launch attempt has been scrubbed.
9:37 p.m. - Space Shuttle Discovery is being safed. There's no word just yet on when the next launch attempt might be; weather at Kennedy tomorrow is expected to be worse than today, with little improvement Saturday.
9:45 p.m. - The team is still discussing the best options for another launch date. Please check the Space Shuttle Web site for the very latest.
Wow. Launch blog. This 51-yr-old has come a long way from the 7-yr-old who watched black and white TV coverage of Friendship 7!
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