[Chaos-l] STS-131 launch

[Tony Rice]

Launch was spectacular this morning.  Really turns night into day.
Liftoff was at 6:21 am about an hour before sunrise so the horizon was
just starting to show some glints of light, just enough to give the
exhaust plume some definition in the morning sky.   We watched from
the Astronaut Hall of Fame.  Tickets were $11 a head, not bad since it
included parking and access to the Hall of Fame exhibits for hours
before the launch and tough 12 miles away, the pad is visible and
really lights on launch. Some photos:
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/Travel/STS-131 .  The colors the contrails
left by the shuttle took on as the sun rose were a beautiful surprise.
 I was also surprised that the sound is exactly like it is on TV.  I'd
always assume the rumbling quality was due to microphones not being
able to accurately reproduce the sound due to all that acoustic
pressure, but it's very accurate.  TV cant do the sound and sight
justice though.,

My son's favorite souvenir was a STS-131 mission T-Shirt he's itching
to wear to school when he tracks back in.  My favorite souvenier was
the STS-131 launch viewing $3 certificate I bought from a couple
Ruritans who'd setup a table outside a T Shirt shop just off NASA
property.  Excellent fundraiser guys and though zero authenticity to
it, it's an attractive certiticate that we'll put up in my son's room
now that we've finally seen a launch after sitting through each of
STS-127's nearly record setting scrubs last summer.  Weather wise
Florida is a horrible place to launch rockets from but we had perfect
weather this morning.

Some tidbits on 131 from CollectSpace.com

    * The solid rocket boosters launching Discovery have been
assembled from segments flown on 60 prior space shuttle missions. The
oldest? STS-1. Most recent? STS-120.
    * STS-131 is the 33rd shuttle mission to the International Space
Station and the 38th flight for orbiter Discovery.
    * As currently manifested, STS-131 is the last shuttle mission to
launch with a full crew compliment of seven astronauts.
    * STS-131 is the last of the shuttle crews to include astronauts
making their first spaceflight. James Dutton, Dorothy (Dottie)
Metcalf-Lindenburger and Naoko Yamazaki will bring the total number of
people who have launched on the space shuttle to 350 (this one
saddened me a bit)
    * Once aboard the International Space Station, STS-131's crew,
together with the six Expedition 23 crew members, will tie the record
for the most people on one spacecraft: 13.
    * STS-131's Naoko Yamazaki will be the last of Japan's astronauts
to fly on the space shuttle. She, and fellow Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi aboard the space
station, will set a record for the most Japanese astronauts in space
at one time: two.
    * STS-131 mission specialists Stephanie Wilson, Dorothy (Dottie)
Metcalf-Lindenburger and Naoko Yamazaki will tie the record for the
most women aboard a space shuttle mission: three. Together with Tracy
Caldwell Dyson aboard the space station, they will set a record for
the most women in space at one time: four.
    * This is Discovery's penultimate flight. The orbiter, designated
OV-103, is scheduled to fly just one more mission, STS-133 in
September 2010.