The six astronauts for space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 mission to the International Space Station now are at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their prelaunch preparations. The crew arrived at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility in a shuttle training aircraft at 9 a.m. EDT.
"It’s great to be back," said Kelly. "We really appreciate all the hard work by the team that’s worked over the last couple of weeks to get shuttle Endeavour ready."
Kelly introduced Endeavour’s pilot Greg H. Johnson who commented, "I can’t think of a more perfect way to spend my birthday then to come here with my crew a get ready to fly Endeavour next week."
"We get a lot of attention as the crew, but the real heroes are the folks here at KSC who’ve been supporting the space shuttle," said Johnson. "And hats off to Dana Hutcherson and her team for preparing Endeavour for this flow and finally a special thanks to the APU team for all the hard work you’ve done getting us to this point. Kudos for solving it and getting us back on track."
Mission Specialists Mike Fincke, Andrew Feustel, Greg Chamitoff and Roberto Vittori, European Space Agency astronaut, Vittori in his native Italian language, each had an opportunity to speak a few words before departing the shuttle runway.
Later today, Kelly and Johnson will practice landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft, which are Gulfstream II jets modified to handle like a space shuttle.
Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters has forecasted a 70% chance of having favorable weather for Endeavour’s liftoff scheduled for 8:56 a.m. Monday.
Tomorrow’s Countdown Status Briefing is scheduled to be aired at 10 a.m. on NASA TV and on www.nasa.gov/ntv.