We were thinking about getting up early and driving up to the Cape in an attempt to see the launch today. Good thing we didn't.

As I've said in the past, it's amazing that this thing ever launches, with so many things that have to go right.

Looks like a freon coolant loop in the #1 fuel cell is the latest thing to malfunction in this Rube Goldbergian contraption.

Perhaps they should have used some of that mass wasted in those giant useless wings for a backup fuel cell.

Ok, now the pump seems to be working normally, no signs of the problem which caused the motor to lose a phase during the initial startup. Intermittent faults, gah! Perhaps they just whacked the OV with an oversized fine adjuster or something.

Unless I just jinxed them, the launch looks like it's back on for tommorrow.

Hope it launches tomorrow--I'm gonna try to drive out there too, to catch it. Rand, what's a good place to view it, and how early should I try to get there? Currently I was planning on going to space view park in Titusville and being there about an hour early--that's information I got from a quick web search. Is it good info or are there better places from which to watch?

That's probably as good as you can do without a base pass--it's probably about ten miles from the site. Other possibilities are the causeway in Cocoa Beach, or from the beach in the wildlife refuge, north of the pad, which would give you a longer view, since it launches toward the north.

As far as how soon to get there, I don't have enough experience to say. I suspect that an hour is probably not early enough, though, at least in Titusville.

Rick C, you might want to check out the "Unofficial Space Shuttle Launch Guide": http://www.sworld.com.au/steven/space/shuttle/guide.txt

Rick, I'm with Rand on the hour not being early enough, unless you mean plan to arrive at least an hour prior to launch. We tried to catch the STS-114 launch and found the traffic to be intense. We left Orlando with a plan to hang out on the beach for 2 hours in advance and managed to park with about 1 hour to go. From all reports, we actually beat much of the traffic, but that statement is purely relative. Even living in Houston, I was amazed at the traffic jam on the Bee-Line expressway.

Why was the spaceport even built in Florida in the first place?

If it isn't some technical malfunction, half the time a launch is scrubbed because of the weather!

Pack everything up and move it to Vandenberg in California.

HLM-

I worked launches at Vandenberg. It has its own weather challenges. We scrubbed a Delta II launch 12 times before getting the bird off the pad, and many of them were weather related. (http://www.air-and-space.com/vafb.htm, search for "ARGOS") Oh yeah, and the people East of the base might not like having the rockets fly overhead. Eventually, we'll be ready for land-locked orbital launch sites. Russia and China do it, but of course China took out a town that one time. Until then, it's Florida for Eastward launches and California for Southward launches (acknowledging that there are other players).

At Vandenberg, afternoons during winter often bring 40 knot winds. That's one of the major reasons they dumped SLC-6.

Until then, it's Florida for Eastward launches and California for Southward launches

And Long Beach for equatorial launches.

Coulda sworn I'd made a second post. Thanks for the input, all. I did mean my goal was to arrive at a viewing spot at least an hour before scheduled launch. I'll be driving from Tampa; I plan on leaving around 8AM. That should give me a buffer even accounting for Beeline Expressway traffic jams. Unless someone has a better suggestion than I-4 to the Beeline.