Heat Shield Trouble looks worse…

The more I read about space shuttle Discovery’s heat shield trouble, the worse it looks. News not yet generally available yet points to a potentially serious issue, which could actually make a launch in the October/November time frame impossible. Thankfully, nothing is finalized yet and there still is hope the situation is not as bad as it currently looks.

As far as my travel plans are concerned: While it is too early to panic, I have begun to think about fall back scenarios. I am right now checking what I can cancel and at what cost. From the cost perspective, it looks frightening, too. Is this really supposed to be the end of my launch viewing trip, at least for this launch window…?

I’ll post updates as soon as I get more news…