Getting ready for Phoenix launch: Step 1: Sleep

Posted By Emily Lakdawalla

2007/08/03 11:20 CDT

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So I'm done with Anahita's first birthday festivities and have just spent a few minutes tuning in to various information sources on Phoenix' launch. Things are looking good so far for the launch to proceed as scheduled for 5:26 a.m. Eastern time, which is 2:26 a.m. my time. As much as I would like to follow all the launch events live, I really should try to get some sleep tonight. So I'll just leave you with a list of some of the sources I will be checking once I wake up again to follow what's going on with the launch.

To follow things on TV, I'm tuning in to both NASA TV and HDNet. For those of you who have DirecTV, NASA is on channel 376 and HDNet (which will be broadcasting the launch from 5 a.m. Eastern) is 79.
You can also see NASA TV streaming on the Web.
You can see the steps in the countdown, as well as links to four different video feeds (of which only two are active as I write) at Kennedy Space Center's "ELV Countdown Portal."
NASA also has a "Launch Blog," which they say will start being updated two hours before the launch.
Spaceflightnow.com has a "Mission Status Center" that's being updated regularly. As of two hours ago they report that the Mobile Service Tower has been rolled back.

So there you have it. I'm going to go to bed now, and I think I will set my alarm for 2:00 a.m. If all goes according to plan, I'll stay up until I've heard that the third stage burn has gone well, which is supposed to happen about an hour and a half after launch, at about 4:00 a.m.

Good night, and I hope I have good news for you in a few hours!