My Mom went out into their backyard to watch last evening. They can attest it truly awe-inspiring to watch the launch.
In relation to all the delays with this particular launch. Am I the only one noticing that recent launches have had more and more delays related to concerns about particular parts? I'm concerned we might have a coming disaster on our hands, and here's why I think so.
The subcontractors that NASA use realize the shuttle program has a limited life. They don't want to invest in producing costly spare components that will likely never be used by NASA, and they probably won't get paid extra for producing. So when there is a spare needed, they are scrounging around for replacements. I'm not saying they are putting parts on that aren't the right part or anything, its just noticable that they have problem with particular parts over and over. To me this signals an inordinate amount of risk given the extremely low margin of safety involved essentially strapping people to a controlled explosion.
Like I said, I hope no astronauts are at risk, I just think at this particular point, for this particular highly dangerous program, that's its become something of a liability to use private subcontractors.