NickDG

This dilemma is more about human nature. You'll never appreciate the risk until something bad happens to you. And after you heal, time softens the blow, and you find yourself back on the edge for more. Usually once or twice a day, if I run a few feet, or just take a misstep, I'm painfully reminded of a BASE jump I made 17 years ago that shattered both my legs. A year of recovery taught me no BASE jump is worth that amount of pain. But, there I was jumping again as soon as the plaster came off. Is that me being stupid, or is BASE jumping actually that big of a draw? I didn't give in to the automatic impulse to quit as almost everyone jumping at that time was seriously injured at some point. It was the price you paid. A good thing that's happened in the sport is while the fatality rate rises with the number of participants the overall injury rate is not as horrific as it once was. It's because the gear is better and the jumpers are better. Today's new BASE jumper at twenty jumps is a hundred times more competent and better equipped than I was at a hundred BASE jumps. I also think, for newer jumpers, the sport is easier to walk away from now. You almost never heard of anyone quitting after someone went in, and now you hear it quite a bit. I think the reason is today's jumper just isn't as heavily invested in the sport. What I mean is when BASE was new, we worked hard to get the sport accepted when all around we were being dissed as crazy, or called worse things, and sometimes even losing an Instructor's slot because some DZO hated BASE jumping and thereby hated you. It sounds strange now, but quitting BASE in those days was like waving a white flag of surrender. It was crawling back to the DZ with your tail between your legs, and not many were willing to do that. Nowadays, you take a course, buy state of the art gear, and the first time you stub a toe your gear's for sale . . . In 1978 PARACHUTIST magazine asked Carl Boenish were he saw BASE jumping being by the year 1985, and he didn't even come close to being right. If you asked me in 1985 were BASE jumping would be in the year 2006 my answer would have wildly missed the mark too. I'm now resigned to knowing BASE isn't going to reach its potential anytime within my lifetime. I know we were right about BASE jumping, and I know the sport will be seen as one of the coolest things we humans invented in the 20th Century. I just wish people now would realize the major threat to BASE jumping comes not from outside the sport, but from inside. The world has accepted BASE jumping, the war is over, and we won. Now we just need to start acting like it . . . NickD

I heard, probably the same way most did, Howard Cosell announced it during the Monday Night Football game . . . NickD

>>THAT ain't happening today...next week looks much better. Waaaay too much cloud cover here today.

Scrubbed . . . @ T-Minus 5 minutes Live to fly another day. Spaceflight is just like skydiving. Never regret a jump you didn't make . . . ! NickD

They must hate this, it's like a cloudy day at the DZ, do you hang around, or go home now . . . ? They have three minutes now . . . NickD

Everyone must be go . . . WX just went "no go" at KSC due to low clouds, but they are going to go down to 5 minutes . . . The next decision point is nothing but an old fashioned 5 minute call . . . Countdown clock resumes in 45 seconds. T-minus 20 minutes . . . Cap being retracted . . . 7 minutes and counting! NickD

The next abort site after launch, Zarogosa, Spain, is a go for WX. The problem now is the overcast at KSC is descending . . . NickD

They hate that description. (My girlfriend works for JPL.) There are scientists and there are engineers, but really, there are no "rocket scientists . . . 28 Minutes in the built in hold . . . NickD

Come on Zing! It's not as easy as launching an Otter . . . NickD

This buit in hold @ T-Minus 9 will last 45 minutes. It gives them a chance to go around the room and make sure everybody is really ready! NickD

T-minus 15 . . . The close out crew are hauling ass . . . NickD

WX is go . . . Countdown clock resumes at 20 minutes . . . My palms are getting sweaty . . . NickD

The next big thing in T-minus 9 minutes. Everyone must be GO! The cloud cover is 500 feet better than needed, but to use Bill's term, it's still sporty . . . NickD

Yeah, I heard that, it was cool . . . They're closing the hatch . . . Pressure checks now. 47 minutes. NickD

Go baby, Go! NickD

All onboard. Comm checks are in progress now . . . The T-6 will shoot approaches to KSC now to check headwind and crosswind componants. If that's cool, and the clouds at 5-grand stay broken they are going to do it! T-minus 1 hour & forty minutes . . . Oh, that was cool - one of the ingress techs went around the mid-deck placing activated chem lites about the cabin. I guess in case of total electrical failure and the lights blow . . . Yikes! NickD

Are those guys helping the Astros into their rigs Jumpmasters? After all, the crew are basically first jump students . . . And those Martin Baker handles seem only barley seated in their pockets. Another thing I noticed, after watching a lot of these launches, is that NASA finally got a couple of guys with a personality to do the audio. It's usually pretty dry . . . NickD

Interesting . . . The vid from the White Room shows the crew putting on their parachute rigs. Who builds those? Boy, I'll bet those are seven rigs that are in date . . . NickD

Over on space.com someone said banging on the RTLS abort button would be tough, "like a skydiver having to pull his reserve." No kidding - they really said that! NickD

I'm pretty sure they can RTLS anytime up to SRB seperation. The crew is in the Astro-bago and on their way to pad 39A . . . NickD

Yup, I'd be pretty puckered up until hearing, "Negative return, Discovery! " They've come out of the last hold and the countown clock is running. But now the winds are up! NickD

I agree. Returning to KSC after launch means a whole lot of things would need to go really right -after something big went really wrong. I was around Cal City when the late Bruce Gilkey, a Navy test jumper at the time, first used the "pole & parachute" egress system that was installed on all the orbiters after the Challenger exploded. They did it out of a Convair and Bruce said later, wearing the spacesuits and getting all that ready to go in a bucking or out of control vehicle - Well, you can forget about it! They really need Aces II ejection seats, but it's a bit late in the program for that. I would suppose the parachutes were a PR move and the astronauts probably figure once they strap in they are going for the whole ride . . . The last NASA WX report sounded more optimistic and the crew is suiting up. NickD

I know they won't launch without being able to film the initial accent from the ground - but it's Florida - all they need is a sucker hole . . . And they must believe they have a shot, or they would have scrubbed already. NickD

The Space Shuttle Discovery, WX permitting, launches today (Dec 07) at 9:35 PM EST. This will be a night launch (always spectacular) and will be the first flight for four of the seven person crew. NASA pushed this mission up one week so as to have the Astronauts back on Earth for Christmas . . . Here's the link to NASA TV and the launch coverage. Get this link up early as the NASA servers tend to overload close to launch time. http://switchboard.real.com/player/email.html?PV=6.0.12&&title=NASA%20TV%20%2D%20Public%20Channel&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasa.gov%2Fram%2F35037main%5Fportal.ram Have a good one STS -116!!! NickD