'The edge of your seats'

After shaking hands with launch director Mike Leinbach and exchanging greetings with others at the shuttle landing facility, the crew approached the microphone. Last Tuesday, Commander Brent Jett said, the astronauts returned to Houston to escape the approaching Tropical Storm Ernesto. From the air, they saw Atlantis on the crawler, headed toward the Vehicle Assembly Building. It turned around and went back to the pad later that day after the forecast for the storm, later a depression, appeared to be less threatening.

"These guys never cease to amaze me," Jett said of the folks at Kennedy Space Center. "They've done a terrific job. ... We're honored to be here to work with them this week."

There's a saying that if you work hard, you bring yourself good luck, Jett said, and if that's true, then the weather should be good for Wednesday's launch.

Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean added a statement in French, then said in English of the intense construction mission ahead at the International Space Station: "I suspect that you'll be on the edge of your seats." He promised to give a good show and leave everyone with a good story to tell.

Atlantis' countdown is due to begin Sunday at 8 a.m. EDT.