Endeavour's seven astronauts are set to fly into Kennedy Space Center this afternoon, three days before their scheduled Friday launch to the International Space Station. You can watch live NASA TV coverage of the crew's arrival, which could begin around 3:30 p.m. Just click on the NASA TV image at left to launch a viewer.
The crew is flying to the space center from Ellington field in Houston in two-person, T-38 training jets, just as it did Oct. 26 for practice countdown drills.
Commander Chris Ferguson is expected to arrive first, around 3:30 p.m., with the remainder of the crew following over the next hour.
You can track the astronauts' progress here.
Two Gulfstream jets are also making the trip, carrying support crew and gear. Ferguson and Pilot Eric Boe will use the modified jets to practice shuttle touchdowns at the space center landing strip.
In addition to Ferguson and Boe, the crew includes mission specialists Steve Bowen, Shane Kimbrough, Sandra Magnus, Don Pettit and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper.
Kimbrough, one of three rookie astronauts along with Boe and Bowen, has family roots on the Space Coast.
His mother grew up in Mims, and he watched rocket launches during regular childhood visits to his late grandparents' home in Mims.
Ferguson and Stefanyshyn-Piper flew together on STS-115 in 2006, while Magnus flew on STS-112 in 2002. Pettit was a science officer on the space station for six months in 2002-03.
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