Ladies and Gentlemen, our American space shuttle program as we know it breathes one of its last breaths as our last (scheduled) night launch, STS-130, is scheduled for a 0439EST departure. I know the shuttle is kind of a white elephant, but being the aerospace enthusiast I am, it’s a…sad thing. Never did get to see a shuttle launch except a couple on TV. 
Good thing for a lot of Easterners is, if the clouds hold out, Endeavor is running along the East coast for quite a while, and will have a huge visibility area.
space.com/spacewatch/spot-th … 00205.html
I’ve seen quite a number of NASA T-38 flights on tracking within the past month. Wonder if they’re related?
Thanks for the heads up lineman!! I knew of the upcoming launch tonight, but totally let it slip my mind. I live right off the coast in Charleston, SC - should have an excellent view for several minutes if the clouds aren’t too bad. Already have my alarm set for 4:30-thanks again!
jam
4:31am - NASA just called off the launch citing cloud cover as a concern. I actually sat up watching live feed on NASA’s site, but I’m kind of glad they called it off, as I wouldn’t have been able to see it from here anyway. Better luck in the next day or so… I actually noticed a Mooney (N4SR) that had a flight path taking it from Alabama, looping north of KSC (coinciding with the launch time) and back to Alabama. That would be something awesome to see from the sky, but I know that guy was probably ticked off by the delay - apparently he’s an FA member too. I’m sure this has been covered somewhere, but what kind of TFR’s do they create for shuttle launches?
g’night guys
EDIT - nevermind, answered my own question:
tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_4369.html
Just a little info, it’s spelled Endeavour, after the HMS Endeavour. That’s Endeavour with a U.
If anyone’s interested, liftoff is now scheduled for 4:14 am EST tomorrow (Monday) morning. Perfectly crisp, clear weather should make for perfect viewing up the east coast.
Whoops on the spelling. Guess I’m too “American-English” speaking to notice that detail. 
Well, let’s try this again, Endeavour. Contact departure, have a safe flight and SEEYA. 
Not sure if anyone else saw it, but from my vantage the shuttle launch went perfectly. Took my laptop outside and about 60 seconds after launch, a bright orange glow streaked across our sky from the south to the northeast - visible for a couple of minutes! It’s sad that the last STS night launch got so little coverage. Gonna be a long day at work today with so little sleep, but it was well worth it.
