First things first: The Shuttle is scheduled to liftoff for the Space Station at 19:55 EST today (00:55 GMT). As I write this, the Endeavour’s crew is getting strapped in and readied to go. You can watch the launch online at NASA TV. They have a camera on the command deck! Awesome.
Update: Launch was right on time, and looks good so far. There was an issue with a door not being latched in the White Room, the retractable room where the techs batten down the Shuttle’s hatch before launch. That was not on the Orbiter itself, so it posed no danger. I suspect they’ll need a new White Room, though. Can’t wait to see the pictures of it!
Second, the Indian Moon probe Chandrayaan-1 is now orbiting the Moon! It dropped a small impactor which has reportedly smacked into the south pole crater Shackleton. I haven’t seen any images or data online yet, but check Emily’s blog; she is usually pretty quick on such things.
Update: a couple of images are now online at ISRO, but they are unlabeled– i have no idea how far up they were taken, what the scale is, nothing. But they’re cool!
I will probably talk about these events during my Second Life interview tonight at 21:00 Eastern (US) time (02:00 GMT)
