You can hear these over the NASA Select channel, if your 'radio scanner' is set for 146.940 MHz, where the local ham radio operators broadcast it. The astronauts will be strapped into their launch seats, and will begin a series of 'Comm Checks' (communications tests) through a variety of frequencies available for air-to-ground communications. By now you want to be well on your way to Titusville. As NASA 'picks up the count', the astronauts have been awakened, fed breakfast, presented with a cake with the mission emblem on it, and suited up in their 'Launch & Entry suits', the flight suits they will wear when they launch, and again when they and their spacecraft returns to Earth. Be sure to check the news reports, because if they've stopped fueling for any reason, you may as well head back to Orlando for the day. Combined with the solid rocket boosters, the Space Transportation System will produce 7 million pounds of thrust to lift 4 million pounds of spacecraft. During this hold in the count, the Space Shuttle is fuelled up with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. They are there in case there is a small glitch along the way, and this 'hold time' can be used to clear up small problems, and clear the way for the rest of the countdown. There are a number of built-in 'holds' in the countdown. But that's what the Countdown clock reads when they start going down the most complicated 'checklist' in the world.

The launch will be on Thursday, and that's alot more than 43 hours away.

Here's a little background on what goes on - and what to look for - during a Space Shuttle launch. For our visitor's, however, it can be a once in a lifetime experience - and they don't know what to expect. When you live here in Titusville, it's easy to get blasé. You can order a copy of a NASA Space Shuttle Countdown Book directly from Amazon.Com. When they come out of the hold at 2:31 PM, they plan to launch at 2:40. They will stop the count again at 2:21 PM at T-9 Minutes. This means they plan to 'pick up the count' at 2:10 PM at T-20 minutes. On the L, or Local clock, we're a whole hour away from launch, but we are in the midst of the built in hold at T-20 Minutes, and we still have a 10 minute built-in hold at T-9 Minutes to go. If it's 1:40 PM, and liftoff is scheduled for 2:40 PM, it is 'L Minus 60 minutes', but 'T Minus 20 Minutes, and holding'. There is also the 'L' (Local time) clock.

There are numerous 'built-in holds', where unscheduled problems can be corrected, and still launch 'on-time'. It means that there are 43 hours until the scheduled liftoff according to the countdown clock. The 'T' in 'T Minus 43 Hours' means 'Time until launch'.

What does t minus