Less than 9 minutes 'til Shuttle take-off
 

Watch live:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

sweet, watching

10...

Here we go

who's paying for their bandwidth

3,300 MPH!!!

w00t

Looks like it's sponsored by Yahoo, so I'm guessing they are.

Watching!!

no boom :/

I haven't seen a launch in years... that rocked.

Shit, too many clouds here, couldn't see it - they took off at a realllllly steep trajectory over the ocean so it would of been hard anyways

That was good :) Always best watched on CSpan channel IMHO if you can get it. They JUST show the nasa feed. NO dipshit commentators trying to fill EVERY available second with useless crap and then talk over the launch as they see fit.

Clouds made it pretty hard to see but I still managed to snap this pic out my backdoor.

Only eight shuttle launches left and I've made it my mission to get at least one really nice launch shot before they're gone.

http://www.thewoop.com/public_html/p...tle5_11_09.jpg

It makes me horny.

the frame rate's not bad at all on those cams... ;)

do you think they can afford something decent ?:1orglaugh

Any news on what the replacement surface-to-orbit setup is going to be? Another "space plane" or go back to the capsule approach?

justin: you should find a local long distance photography pro to use your house to shoot from perhaps for the next launch. Looks like you're really close and can get a good angle. Could be a good contact too and just interesting.

I think they will be unveiling a new space plane that they plan to send out of orbit.

Actually I'm about 45 miles away from the launch pad and there are plenty of better shooting locations. I think the general public can get like 5 to 7 miles from the launch pad in some places.

The last four times I made the drive over to get close to the launch pad the launch was scrubbed. It was pretty cloudy out today and the launch was mid afternoon so I didn't try to make the drive. I'll go when it's an early morning or late afternoon launch time.

The clouds were blocking my view, oh well.

I haven't been following it enough to give you any facts but it seems NASA isn't sure what direction it's going. I think they had a design similar to the space shuttle but more efficient but had problems and had to scrap that plan. Obama wants to go back to the moon but now is threatening to reduce NASA's budget making the project unfeasible. NASA continues to work in that direction even though they might not get the money to finish.

It seems like they are a little spaced out over there at the cape and sometimes I think it's more about landing the big contracts and getting work even if it means not being able to complete the projects intentions.

damn! i missed it!

http://twitter.com/NASA

they have a twitter too lol

I have seen it land live when i was a kid. What a rush even as a child

Damn, I missed this one, won't miss the next one. I love shuttle launches they are always an adrenaline burst.

about 5mins till grapple of the hubble

Live coverage is on C-Span 2 for the grapple stuff right now.

The next gen of vehicle I think is going back to a more Apollo-like design. With rockets below, and crew ABOVE any potential falling launch debris. There'll also be ejection seat type safety devices.