The six STS-129 mission astronauts are on their way to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to participate in a launch dress rehearsal and related training known as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT.
Five of the crew members are flying in their T-38 training jets. Currently, they’ve stopped for refueling in Mississippi and are expected to arrive after 11 a.m. EDT at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility.
Mission Specialist Leland Melvin will be further delayed because the G2 NASA aircraft he was flying had a technical issue and returned to Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Because of the delayed arrival times, TCDT crew arrival will not be carried live on NASA Television but it will air as a Video File segment on NASA TV this afternoon on www.nasa.gov/ntv.