The Atlantis astronauts are suiting up in Kennedy Space Center's crew quarters as clocks continue to tick to a planned 2:45 p.m. EST liftoff on a mission to deliver the European Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station.
Led by mission commander Stephen Frick, the crew includes pilot Alan Poindexter (pictured above) and mission specialists Rex Walheim, Stanley Love, Leland Melvin and two European astronauts: Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts.
Frick and Walheim are veterans; the other astronauts all will be making their first spaceflight.
The astronauts are donning bright orange partial pressure launch-and-entry suits. Developed in the wake of the 1986 Challenger accident, the suits are equipped with survival gear they would use in the unlikely event that a serious systems failure in flight forced them to bail out over the Atlantic Ocean. The bright orange color would help rescue teams spot the astronauts.
The crew is schedule to depart crew quarters and board NASA's AstroVan about 10:55 a.m. EST. A 12-mile trip from the KSC Operations & Checkout Building to launch pad 39A will follow and the astronauts will start climbing into Atlantis about 11:22 a.m.
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