Space shuttle takes off on historic flight; Possible debris spotted falling from shuttle; My rough sketch of cost-effective shuttle launch idea; D.C. heads for century mark; NASA and the No. 13; Montana quake Magnitude 5.6; Stormy night in Minn., Wisc., Iowa; Midwest swelters in grips of heat wave; From NJ: First heat deaths reported, more heat on the way; Sen. Santorum on Comedy Central tonight; Tropical Storm Franklin weakens in Atlantic; Rain from Gert threatens floods, mudslides in Mexico; SE Michigan storms cut power to 39,000; Thunderstorms cause massive flooding in the High Desert
Shuttle Launch Update: Space shuttle takes off on historic flight | Possible debris spotted falling from shuttle: NASA analyzing video of loose piece (Slideshow, video inside) | Astronomy Picture of the Day: Launch
My Rough Sketch Of Cost-Effective Shuttle Launch Idea:
Image links to large version in a new window
A couple of notes: Of course, while on the launch pad, lightning may strike the balloon, causing it to burst, and the shuttle to fall, so some type of protection would need to keep the shuttle from being damaged … perhaps a deep pool of water built into the launch pad directly below where the shuttle sits.
I hope you all realize I’m joking about all of this.
Again, I had a little too much free time today.
D.C. Near Century Mark: CapitalWeather.com blog, live D.C. weather and webcams and current conditions in D.C.
Heat Continues: Midwest swelters in grips of heat wave | Heat advisory for Washington, D.C. area | From New Jersey: First heat deaths reported, more heat on the way | Current U.S. temps and heat index | Much more, including current temperature maps are in yesterday’s post below…
NASA Shuttle Launch Coverage:
Weather: NWS radar | Current weather/webcam images and more
Stories: NASA may bend rules to launch Discovery | Why NASA’s making the right decision | Very latest stories
Live Video of Launch: MSNBC.com (Starting at 6:59 a.m. EDT) | Fox News
Special Sites: NASA’s Return To Flight page | MSNBC coverage | CNN coverage
Timelines: Discovery history/timeline and NASA timeline
Shuttle Launch & The No. 13: NASA seems to like the number 13. Discovery’s original launch date: July 13. Revised launch date: 13 days later. Time of launch: 10:39 a.m. (first two numbers excluding the “0″ = 13, and it is 39 minutes after the hour, or 3 times … you guessed it, 13). Yep, I have way too much time on my hands…
Montana Quake Magnitude 5.6 Monday Night: Story: no immediate reports of serious damage, injuries | USGS preliminary data … U.S. map and World map. Also: Latest stories. Live quake wire is in left column of this page.
Stormy Night In Wisconsin, S. Minnesota, N. Iowa: Current watches/warnings map; live U.S. radar (click through for local weather and webcams) and storm summary radar. Minneapolis/St. Paul weather/webcams
Sen. Santorum (R-PA), who wants the National Weather Service to stick to alerts but not to other weather information online, will be on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” tonight. Found this on CapitalWeather.com
Tropics: Tropical Storm Franklin weakens in Atlantic | Rain from Gert threatens floods, mudslides in Mexico
Other Weather News: SE Michigan storms cut power to 39,000
Thunderstorms cause massive flooding in the High Desert
Top 5 WXnation.com city weather and webcam pages visited on Monday: 1. Chicago 2. Minneapolis/St. Paul 3. Columbus 4. Milwaukee 5. Green Bay … See the top 20 so far this month in the center column of our home page.
You know you are nuts, right? You can’t lift a shuttle with a damn balloon. What are you, a mad scientist? I am going to report you to NASA.