The countdown started at 2100 UTC yesterday for the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery on Saturday (July 1) at 1948 UTC (3:48 p.m. EDT) for the STS-121 mission. There is a 60 percent chance of bad weather at launch which could postpone the mission. The Discovery and its seven member crew are heading for a rendevous with the International Space Station.
Radio monitors should note that this will be a 51 degree inclined launch and this will afford you an excellent opportunity to monitor Discovery UHF air-to-ground comms during the ascent phase. Be sure to plug in both of their UHF frequencies: A/G-1 259.7 MHz and A/G-2 on 296.8 MHz.
Please note: Radio hobbyists and webmasters that have linked to our popular NASA frequency list on the Monitoring Times website will now find a new, updated list in Adobe PDF format, now posted to the site. The old html list has been removed so please reset your links to the new URL for the new list. The link on the right hand side of this blog page has been reset to the new address and you can now reach the list via that link or on the main page of the MT website.
