STS-117 Launch Update

NASA’s space shuttle is on schedule to launch at 7:38 p.m. EDT (23:38 GMT) tonight, 8 June 2007. NASA’s Launch Blog will begin coverage at 1:30 p.m. (17:30 GMT). Read more about the countdown here. Take a close look at the photo above and you’ll see an alligator in the foreground.

Live HDTV coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. (22:00 GMT) on HDNet, and naturally NASA TV:

NASA Television is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) – compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) with modulation of QPSK/DBV, data rate of 36.86 and FEC 3/4 is needed for reception. NASA TV Multichannel Broadcast includes: Public Services Channel (Channel 101); the Education Channel (Channel 102) and the Media Services Channel (Channel 103).