Anyone else watching the SpaceX launch live?

[JacobReesMogadishu]

It’s being broadcast on the nasa YouTube channel and website.?

Just under 2 hours to launch, they’re just shutting the hatch now.

They do, remember when one (mattingly?) got measles and lost his seat on the flight.

It was indeed Ken Mattingly, one of the "prime" crew for Apollo 13. .but he actually never got measles..

His story was that a few days before the flight he and others were exposed to measles due to one of the back up crew (Charlie Duke) getting it.

Mattingly was the only one of the prime crew who had not had the disease so (as told in the Apollo 13 movie) after much angst and deliberation as a precaution he was pulled from the flight and Jack Swigert got the ride ...and all that went with it...and Mattingly never actually developed the illness.

Mattingly did fly on Apollo 16, he also hung around long enough to fly the Space Shuttle.

FWIW the pre-launch quarantines were controversial amongst the astronauts - there were so many people they had to interact with in the run up to launch( technicians, back up grew, medics, etc) that isolating them them from family became a sore point. There was even a major row around the Apollo 11 astronauts not being allowed to have a meeting with POTUS a day or two before their launch because of pre-flight quarantine concerns...

@notimagain yes, I remember it rather more clearly than I did in the middle of the night!

He's now in his 80s, there can't be many Apollo astronauts left now, certainly not more than a handful of the ones who walked on the moon - Aldrin, Collins (who didn't, but should have done IMO) and a couple of others .

You are right...From memory I think we are now down to four remaining Moon walkers:
Buzz Aldrin,
Dave Scott,
Charlie Duke,
Harrison Schmitt..

There are a handful of others still around from the Apollo flights who didn't actually land, such as Jim Lovell (he's now in his early nineties) and Mike Collins, plus a few others, but as you say it's not many.

That looks about right. I always thought it was a shame Jim Lovell didn't get to land on the moon. I loved his cameo in Apollo 13. Mike Collins - going all that way and not going on the moon, part of me reckons that the others said 'go on Mike, just pop down and have a quick step on the moon while we wait' and never told anybody. They wouldn't though would they, too well trained for that.

part of me reckons that the others said 'go on Mike, just pop down and have a quick step on the moon while we wait' and never told anybody. They wouldn't though would they, too well trained for that.

He never left orbit, someone had to stay up the command module while the other two gallivanted down on the moon.

I love his photo of the whole of humanity and every living thing but him.

He never left orbit, someone had to stay up the command module while the other two gallivanted down on the moon.

I know it's not realistic, just must have been tempting.

Definitely tempting. The BBC documentary 8 Days:to the moon and back is still on iplayer. Fascinating.

Today's the day! What time is it due to take off this evening?

8.22pm is launch time for the UK.

Funny how they cut Trump off and quickly switched back to the astronauts when he started blathering on

I can't believe I missed this thread first time around. I'm here, and hoping for launch this time.

Thankyou.

Oh I wish I'd have seen that I'm on the YouTube NASA live stream, I'm feeling really excited but also anxious about what we may see tonight!

Just read that it may not be seen after launch here as to light, but from the south west you should be able to see it at 22.15ish

weather is a bit iffi again.
let's see.
if they can't start today they might have to wait until hurricane season is over.

50/50 chance they said. Even my 7yo rolled his eyes at that.

So the ISS will pass over at 22:11 and theoretically the Dragon will be a minute or two later, both toward the south going west to east, lowish in the sky? Am I right?

I'm calling it now, it will be aborted again due to the weather.

So the ISS will pass over at 22:11 and theoretically the Dragon will be a minute or two later, both toward the south going west to east, lowish in the sky? Am I right?

Not sure of the exact timings for the UK but the "gap" should be about 5 minutes..

This site is a goodie for any satellite fans..

www.heavens-above.com/

I'm calling it now, it will be aborted again due to the weather.

Looking better now than it did half an hour ago from a rain POV , but those sneaky electric fields are being unhelpful again.

If it's scrubbed today then further options are:

Sunday, May 31: 3:00 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT)
Tuesday, June 2: 2:13 p.m. EDT (1813 GMT) — Flight Day 3 rendezvous
Wednesday, June 3: 1:48 p.m. EDT (1748 GMT)
Thursday, June 4: 1:25 p.m. EDT (1725 GMT)
Saturday, June 6: 12:40 p.m. EDT (1640 GMT) — Flight Day 3 rendezvous
Sunday, June 7: 12:14 p.m. EDT (1614 GMT)
Monday, June 8: 11:52 a.m. EDT (1552 GMT)

Reasons why and full info here:

spaceflightnow.com/2020/05/29/mission-managers-weigh-weather-odds-in-deciding-next-crew-dragon-launch-attempt/

Oh god, crying at their kids miming hugs.

notimagain

Thanks for the link, it's very interesting.

FWIW this is going back in history but this is why they really really don't like launching in bad weather, most especially if there's any chance at all of lightning or static discharge..

Fingers crossed for good weather.

I'm watching, too, just in case it goes ahead (not making any guesses).

fingers crossed!

Thanks for the thread! I'm watching excitedly.

Tim Peake posted this on Twitter half an hour ago:

You can see the @Space_Station pass over the UK tonight, 22:10 BST. Look west, low on the horizon & it will cross to the south east, passing beneath the moon. If @SpaceX launches, it will follow about 5 mins later. The sky will be too light to see SpX on 1st pass after launch.

we often watch the ISS go over but shame we won't see spaceX too