Weather Forces Launch Delay

August 24, 2009

1:25 a.m. - No launch tonight. Next opportunity: 1:10 a.m. EDT on Wednesday

12:30 a.m. - Rather dismal weather outlook for launch tonight. Main concern is lighting in the area. The crew is aboard the shuttle and the hatch is closed.

11 p.m.  - The seven astronauts slated to fly on Discovery are settling into their seats to await the final few hours of the countdown. Liftoff remains targeted for 1:36 a.m. EDT. Lightning storms have cleared from the area, though a few straggling clouds remain. 

4:40 p.m. - NASA has begun the three-plus hour operation to fill up shuttle Discovery's fuel tank for launch in the wee hours. 

Liftoff is set for 1:36 a.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

The shuttle is filled with a cargo pod holding more than seven tons of science gear, supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station, including a second treadmill named after Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert. 

Discovery's six-man, one-woman crew, headed by three-time flier Rick Sturckow, is scheduled to arrive at the launch pad shortly after 10 p.m. tonight. Already aboard are eight mice that will be taking up residence on the station for the next few months. Four of the critters have been genetically altered for an experiment scientists hope will give them fresh insights into why astronauts lose bone mass during long-duration stays in the gravity-free world of space. The research also may lead to more effective treatments for osteoporosis, a bone-destroying disease that afflicts millions of people on Earth.

The shuttle is scheduled to spend 13 days in orbit, including nine at the station, currently staffed by two Russians, two Americans, a Canadian and a European. Discovery rookie astronaut Nicole Stott will be joining the crew, taking the place of NASA astronaut Tim Kopra. She's the last station crewmember who will be hitching a ride on a space shuttle. From here on out, NASA plans to rotate station crews using Russian Soyuz spacecraft. 

The shuttles are being retired sometime late next year or early 2011 and with six-member crews now living on the station NASA says there aren't enough seats on the shuttle to smoothly handle crew rotations. 

Discovery's launch is the 128th in shuttle program history and the fourth of five missions planned for this year. After Discovery's flight, six missions remain to complete the station. 

NASA Treads (Lightly) on Comedian

April 14, 2009

The space station's new living quarters was named Tuesday night -- not for the Comedy Central comedian Stephen Colbert, who emerged as the top vote-getter after a (successful!) grass-roots campaign, nor for second runner-up "Serenity."

The agency decided upon "Tranquility," in a nod to the landing site of America's first manned mission to the moon and in total repudiation of the democratic process. ("Tranquility" came in eighth in NASA's "Name the Node" contest.") 

Colbert won a consolation prize of sorts.  In an uncharacteristically tuneful public relations pitch, NASA announced that the  station's new treadmill, which will be housed in Tranquility, will be known as the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, aka COLBERT. The comedian also was offered a pass to come watch the shuttle launch that will put his namesake into orbit. 

(Stephen Colbert, challenging NASA like no celebrity has done before. Credit: Comedy Central)

The Colbert Conundrum

April 11, 2009

NASA has decided on a name for the space station's new living quarters following a public relations campaign that took the agency into unchartered territory. Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert hijacked a NASA contest to name the node with televised appeals to fans to enter his name as a write-in candidate. When the votes were in, "Colbert" won by a landslide.

Whatever NASA has decided to do, it at least has developed a sense of humor about the situation. Former station flight engineer Sunita Williams is appearing on Colbert's show Tuesday night to break the news. 

International Space Thingamajig

March 10, 2009

Perhaps NASA's problem with the space station has been its name. It's hard to cozy up to something called "International Space Station." It's cumbersome to write, let alone say. 

So maybe there's something to a proposal put forth by Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, who is doing something rarely done on national television -- plugging the space station. 'Course Stephen has an ulterior motive. He's encouraging people to participate in NASA's "Name the Module" contest, but he's got a specific name in mind: His.

The grassroots effort to name the node "Colbert" appears to working. About 115,000 people suggested the name, pretty impressive consider it's a write-in candidate. NASA has its own nominees -- Serenity, Legacy, Earthrise and Venture  -- names Colbert mocked as words for organic teas, not space stations.

NASA will take suggestions until March 20. I hope this won't be a spoiler for you, but democracy isn't going cut it in this election. 

NASA states it "reserves the right to ultimately select a name in accordance with the best interests of the agency, its needs and other considerations. Such name may not necessarily be one which is on the list of voted-on candidate names." 

Sorry Stephen! Thanks for the laugh.

Late Night with Garrett Reisman

May 09, 2008

Space station flight engineer Garrett Reisman kibitzes with Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert during a video linkup on Thursday.