AMSAT-UK - STS-121 STATUS 3:16pm edt

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STS-121 STATUS 3:16pm edt - 1 jULY 2006

3:16 p.m. - At T-9 minutes and holding, we are still "no-go" for thunderstorms and clouds in the area. The Shuttle Launch Weather Officer is still monitoring the situation and the weather does still have time to clear. There will be a number of polls coming up: one by John Shannon of the Mission Management Team, one by Jeff Spaulding for the Test Directors and Mike Leinbach will conduct one as Launch Director. All of these polls determine if we are ready to come out of the hold.

*Did you know?*
The weather conditions must be acceptable at one of the three Transatlantic Abort Landing (TAL) sites to launch. The sites are Zaragoza, Spain; Moron, Spain; or Istres, France. Today's preferred landing site is in Moron, Spain.

2:54 p.m. - The countdown is at T-9 minutes and holding. The Closeout Crew is departing the pad.

2:50 p.m. - Pilot Mark Kelly is configuring computer displays in the cockpit for launch. NASA's Contingency Support Operations are reporting ready. There is one scheduled hold remaining in the countdown at T-9 minutes; it is a 40-minute built-in hold.

2:43 p.m. - The march to launch continues with T-20 minutes and counting. The orbiter's thruster issue has been cleared for launch by the Mission Management Team. The weather is still in question, but there are no other major issues being addressed. Calibrations of Discovery's navigation system IMUs have been completed.

2:38 p.m. - NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding <http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/biographies/spaulding.html> has given the T-20 briefing to update the launch team on how to handle any issues that could arise during the rest of the hold.

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