Just before midnight the six STS-130 crew members will be climbing into their flight suits, helmets and gloves at Kennedy’s Operations and Checkout Building.
The flight suits contain an oxygen supply, communications equipment and a temperature control system that offer protection in the event of an emergency and pressure changes during liftoff.
The crew also will be attending a briefing with flight controllers to discuss details on weather conditions at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility and the transoceanic abort landing, or TAL, sites.