Astronauts Sweep Into Town For Mock Countdown

NASA's next shuttle crew swept into Kennedy Space Center in a rush this afternoon, landing at the three-miles shuttle runway and then whisking off to take part in a two-day practice countdown for a planned June 13 launch.

Led by veteran mission commander Mark Polansky, the crew is on a hectic schedule: the practice countdown and emergency escape training on their launch tower Wednesday and Thursday and then the astronauts head into quarantine on Saturday -- a week before the planned launch.

Then it's another flight back to KSC the following Monday night; the launch countdown picks up that Wednesday, the shuttle's fuel cells are serviced on Thursday, Endeavour's external tank is fueled Friday and liftoff is set for 7:17 a.m. Saturday June 13.

"So for us, it's a little bit of a compressed schedule," Polansky said during brief comments at a microphone set up at the Shuttle Landing Facility.

Nonetheless, Polansky said the astronauts are looking forward to what amounts to a full-up launch-day dress rehearsal here at KSC this week.

"We're delighted to be here for the terminal countdown test, better known as TCDT. Certainly there has been a lot of activity with the successful completion of the Hubble mission on Atlantis, and we'd like to go ahead and thank everybody at the Kennedy Space Center for their hard work in taking the vehicle Endeavour and moving it successfully to our launch pad 39A," he said.

Polansky said the crew is excited about the launch -- about "getting our job done. And we want to thank you all for coming out. So we'll see you soon."

And then they were off.

Riding in a white NASA bus, the astronauts headed off for training in M113 armored personnel carriers that would be used to escape the launch pad area in the event of a fire or explosion or other emergency. Also on tap: last-minute preparations for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test -- or TCDT -- the last major prelaunch test for astronauts here at KSC.

Polansky and his crewmates will field questions from reporters during an informal Q&A at launch pad 39A at 9:20 a.m. Wednesday. You can watch it live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer.

ABOUT THE IMAGE: At the top of the item, click to enlarge the Florida Today photo of the STS-127 astronaut crew during a brief appearance their today. The crew includes (left to right) mission specialist Tim Kopra, pilot Doug Hurley, mission specialist Tom Marshburn, mission commander Mark Polansky, mission specialist Julie Payette of the Canadian Space Agency, mission specialist David Wolf and mission specialist Chris Cassidy. The second photo is of canadian astronaut Julie Payette. And the third shows mission specialist David Wolf eyeballing photographers while mission specialist Chris Cassidy watched on. Photo credit: Craig Rubadoux/Florida Today.