Editor's note, 3:20 p.m.: It turns out there was trouble getting the Astrovan's air conditioning to work, and a backup vehicle was nearly required. But all systems got up and running. Endeavour astronauts are making a nine-mile drive from crew quarters to launch pad 39A, hoping to blast off at 6:51 p.m. to the International Space Station.
Led by an armed escort, the crew rides in NASA's signature silver Astrovan, a modified Airstream motor home that has ferried crews since 1984.
Dressed in orange launch-and-entry suits, the astronauts waved to cheering crowds of Kennedy Space Center workers, friends and family before boarding the van.
The crew includes mission commander Mark Polansky, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Chris Cassidy, Tim Kopra, Tom Marshburn, Julie Payette of the Candian Space Agency and David Wolf.
The van will pause near the Launch Control Center to let some NASA representatives, including Chief Astronaut Steve Lindsey. (Photo added at left.)At the pad, the crew will take an elevator to a level 147 feet above the pad surface. There they will enter the "white room," their last stop before entering the shuttle.
It's the second time in two days the crew will have reached the pad and boarded Endeavour. Weather scrubbed Sunday's launch about 10 minutes before a planned liftoff, and is a concern again today.
IMAGES: Above, by Mike Brown of Florida Today. Below, from James Dean's cell phone.
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