Oct 20-27 Discovery Shuttle Launch & WDW

[virginiamama]

We were lucky enough to see the Discovery launch this past December from the deck of the Magic. We thought we were going to miss it because it was originally scheduled for Thursday night, but was scrubbed and rescheduled for Saturday night. After the sail away party, the captain kept the ship in the channel right off of Cape Canaveral so we had an AWESOME view!!! We did not have our hopes up, just cautiously optimistic, I guess. Well, we leave on the 21st for the Beach Club. Wouldn't that be awesome to catch two shuttle launches in two years!!! I'm reallllly trying not to get my hopes up on this one!

 

[lhuggi1]

REMEMBER: THAT THE ORIGINAL LAUNCH DATE WAS FOR OCTOBER 20TH 2007 AND HAS BEEN CHANGED TO OCTOBER 23 2007 !!!!!

 

[madaboutMickey]

We will be at OKW. If we decide to drive to Titusville for the launch, how early do we need to get there? How long is the drive from WDW? Thanks.

 

[Endeavour105]

We will be at OKW. If we decide to drive to Titusville for the launch, how early do we need to get there? How long is the drive from WDW? Thanks.

Based on experience, you need to be in Titusville about 2 hours prior to the anticipated/reported launch time. On normal days, it takes about a little over hour to get to Titusville from OKW , however, on shuttle launch days, traffic on The Beach Line (Rt 528) can be very heavy all the way to the coast. - so plan on longer than 1 hour Give it 2 and you should be ok. From OKW, get on I-4 east and consider taking the 528 east to 417 north to Rt 50 (Colonial Dr.) and then heading east on 50. 50 will take you directly into Titusville and ends at Rt 1 - turn left and head north on Rt 1 - you'll see the crowds parking along the side of the road - the earlier you get to Titusville, the better.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071011/sc_nm/space_shuttle_dc

 

[BPCooper]

They have recommended clearing the issue and proceeding with launch on Oct. 23. A formal announcement will be made on Tuesday.

 

[Endeavour105]

The launch window for space shuttle missions to the international space station is ten minutes in duration. NASA will always target the center of the window to optimize fuel performance. However, they have moved it up five minutes once so far (in 22 ISS flights) to beat approaching thunderstorms.

So it is correct, the window stretches five minutes either side. There is also another addition, in that the window is occasionally a little more than 5 minutes beyond launch time, having to do with docking timeline on either the third or fourth day of the flight; the fourth day docking option is only put in play occasionally (as it was for the last flight, STS-118).

You can view the daily launch windows here, in which the "in plane" time is the preferred launch time:

http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html#WINDOWS

For those days when a day-four docking is possible, if they choose to utilize it, you can see the later window closing time.

Hope this makes sense.

On another note, a decision on the current potential problem being addressed will be made on Tuesday afternoon:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts120/071010rcc/

You are still in error regarding the launch window. The move up you describe is most definitely atypical and should not be considered routine or the norm. And, I suggest you check out the following:

http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/Rocket_Sci/clocks/time-effects.html

NASA characteristically launches at the very opening of th launch window as they state in the above web page.

So, as a simple example, if the launch is scheduled for 12:00:00 and there is a 5 minute window - they have until 12:05:00 to launch. If this cannot be accommplished because of whatever issue(s), then they scrub the launch must 'recycle'.

There is no launch window before the specified launch time. The window opens at the planned launch time and extends until the window closes.

 

[Abbracio]

Does anyone know what time the Kennedy Space Center would open on the 23rd IF the Shuttle goes off???

We did go ahead and purchase tickets for launch day and the card that we are suppose to put in our front car window, says to arrive by 10:00 AM or before.

What's the earliest we can arrive????
We will be driving from Orlando that morning.

Thanks for any info.

Kathryn

 

[BPCooper]

You are still in error regarding the launch window.

This is not a guess, I am not just some fan writing what I think is right I can assure you they target the center of a ten minute window (plus more if they chose FD-4 as I explained above).

ISS missions are the exception to the rule of "targeting the opening of the window." They target the center of the launch window for shuttle missions to the ISS. The window for the ISS is ten minutes long and this is based on the shuttle's ability to launch five minutes on either side of the plane; the plane of the ISS orbit passes over Cape Canaveral twice per day, but since they can only launch to the north and not south, the launch time comes up once per day.

If you don't believe me do a search on it. Yes, so far only once have they moved it up. That doesn't mean that STS-120 isn't going to launch 5 minutes earlier at 11:33am.

Here are a couple of links:

"Launches must occur within five minutes of the in-plane time to assure a rendezvous with the Station." The in-plane time being the center of a ten minute window.

http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html#WINDOWS

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/setting_the_date.html

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

Does anyone know what time the Kennedy Space Center would open on the 23rd IF the Shuttle goes off???

We did go ahead and purchase tickets for launch day and the card that we are suppose to put in our front car window, says to arrive by 10:00 AM or before.

What's the earliest we can arrive????
We will be driving from Orlando that morning.

Thanks for any info.

Kathryn

Last year we were there for launch day. we had a card that said 11:00. We just got off the Magic, and didn't know where exactly the space center was. we went to find it and ended up in the traffic line that went in. We just kept going and ended up in the parking lot. We saw other cards with our time on it and decided to try and go in the gates. We had no problems going in just after 9:00 am when it opened up! No one said ANYTHING to us! I think it is set up that way to spread traffic out for people arriving. Unfortunately for us, it didn't go up that day, but it was still a neat experience. Have fun!

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Let me tell yall a little known secret. When the shuttle launches, if you are in epcot by mission space in front of the building (facing it) the shuttle launches and you see it come up from behind mission space. We were there last dec during the night time launch and it was awsome. We were walking up to mission space and heard this sound and sure enough here goes the shuttle up from behind mission space (the ride) and up in the sky onto its mission in space (see what I did there LOL) ! Anyway just a little info for you. Not sure how the daylight would effect the view!

Awesome!! We are planning to be in FW that morning!!!

 

[lhuggi1]

bump

 

[Endeavour105]

Shuttle launches, day or night, can easily be seen from WDW...depending on the cloud cover between WDW and the KSC...however, if there're a lot of clouds, one may see only a fleeting glimpse of the shuttle as it heads to space. Best to head to Titusville - the closer you are, the better for a good view of the launch.

 

[BPCooper]

I concur. It is well worth the hour long drive to see it up close. If you are in Florida at Disney at launch time, might as well make one last drive to say you saw it for real ;-)