BREAKING NEWS: The launch has been scrubbed today due to a sensor failure: more info here. It'll be Sunday at least before they can attempt another launch. I'll blog about it when it happens. Stay Tuned.
Like everyone else, I'll be watching the launch today at 3:51 p.m. (Eastern). Every space blogger and news site has more info, so I'll just direct you to NASA's Return to Flight page and the Virtual Launch Control Center, which has current news (at 12:25 Eastern time, the astronauts had reached the launch pad). I'll update this entry here as things progress. (Times are all Eastern) 12:45 p.m. Some of the astronauts are onboard Discovery and are getting strapped in. 1:34 p.m. DRAT! A hardware problem (a low level fuel sensor was misbehaving; it's one of four, but they all need to be working) has scrubbed the launch for today. The astronauts are disembarking the Shuttle. 2:09 p.m. The astronauts have left the Shuttle. There will be a press conference no earlier than 4:30 p.m. to discuss what happened and what happens next. I will have more info shortly.
Yeah, duh, like there's other space news right now! :-)
