Friday, May 08, 2009

Live at KSC: Launch Countdown Under Way

The countdown to the planned launch Monday of Atlantis just got under way at the Kennedy Space Center and seven astronauts who will fly aboard the ship are en route to NASA's shuttle homeport.

NASA and contractor engineers and managers were called to their station's in the Launch Control Center here at 3:30 p.m. and the countdown began at 4 p.m. Liftoff of a fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission remains scheduled for 2:01 p.m. Monday.

The astronauts are scheduled to arrive at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility at 5 p.m. You can watch the arrival live in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box to start up our NASA TV viewer and live coverage.

Flying in T-38 training jets, the astronauts departed Ellington Field near Jognson Space Center around 3 p.m. EDT. You can track their flights
HERE.

Led by veteran mission commander Scott Altman, the crew includes pilot Gregory "Ray J" Johnson and five mission specialists: robot arm operator Megan McArthur and spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Drew Feustel, Mike Massimino and Mike Good.

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