[sarex] STS-121 CREW ARRIVES AT KENNEDY

[Arthur Rowe <azrowe80@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

SUBMITTD BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

The crew members of STS-121 arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida 
shortly after 10 a.m. EDT today for the launch of Space Shuttle 
Discovery on Saturday. Landing aboard their T-38 training jets, the 
seven astronauts flew in from Johnson Space Center in Houston to 
Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility.

Kennedy Space Center Director, Jim Kennedy and NASA Launch Director Mike 
Leinbach were out on the tarmac to personally greet the astronauts.

Commander Steven Lindsey welcomed the media and introduced his crew. 
Pilot Mark Kelly said "It's great to be here. We hear Discovery's ready 
to go and we're ready to go as well." Mission Specialist Lisa Nowak, 
making her first shuttle flight enthusiastically commented "it is really 
great to be here in Florida for the launch." "After having our practice 
countdown, it's really good to be back here and do this for real," said 
Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson about the upcoming launch.

Lindsey ended the interview by saying "We're really excited to be here, 
we're as prepared as we're going to be, the vehicle's looking good and 
everything is 'go' and weather permitting -- we're going to be airborne 
on July 1."

The STS-121 crew includes Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission 
Specialists Michael Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers 
and Thomas Reiter, an astronaut with the European Space Agency. Reiter 
will remain with the Expedition 13 crew on the station.

The astronauts will spend the remaining days at Kennedy preparing for 
the launch. Liftoff of Discovery is currently set for 3:49 p.m. EDT 
Saturday, July 1.

+ Arrival Image Feature 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/multimedia/arrival_imagefeature.html>

Tune in to NASA TV <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html> 
Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. for a Countdown Status Briefing with NASA 
Test Director Jeff Spaulding, STS-121 Payload Manager Debbie Hahn and 
Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters. During the briefing, updates will 
be provided about the status of launch preparation for STS-121.

+ Watch NASA TV <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html>

+ Countdown Begins June 28 
<http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/jun/HQ_M06106_121_countdown.html> 
| + Briefing Schedule 
<http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/jun/HQ_M06107_ksc_briefing.html>
----
Via the sarex mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe sarex" to Majordomo@amsat.org