It was the sign I had waited 115 days to see: “Days until launch: 0”. Driving towards the press site I was asking myself, “is this it? is this the day that Discovery will finally launch?” The last time I was here, I watched tearfully as Discovery’s flag was ceremoniously lowered from the flagpole beside the mission countdown clock. The launch had been scrubbed due to a hydrogen leak and all my hopes were dashed. Today though, the sun was shining, the press trucks were out in force, and I was ready to see this bird fly. Photo Joel Sartore There was a nervous pause as we heard that the countdown clock had been stopped. A problem with range control meant that at that…