This morning at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the STS-131 astronauts’ week of prelaunch training culminated at Launch Pad 39A as they climbed aboard space shuttle Discovery for a full-dress launch rehearsal, known as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. The exercise gave the crew, launch team and technicians an opportunity to walk through all the steps leading up to the launch.
The astronauts are set to depart from Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility runway at 1:30 p.m. EST, flying T-38 jets back to their home base at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.