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The seven astronauts who will fly space shuttle Discovery on the STS-131 mission to the

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International Space Station recently completed a full launch dress rehearsal.

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Flying in their T-38 jets, the astronauts arrived at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility to begin four days of training.

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It's known as the Terminal Countdown 
Demonstration Test, or TCDT --

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a fundamental milestone for every space shuttle mission.

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STS-131 Commander Alan Poindexter and 
Pilot Jim Dutton were joined by Mission

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Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Stephanie Wilson,

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Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Clay Anderson and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Naoko Yamazaki.

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The crew spoke to the media expressing their excitement to be back at Kennedy.

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Alan Poindexter/STS-131 Commander: We're really looking forward to our dress rehearsal for launch, our TCDT.

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We've been training real hard and we're just real proud of the folks down here at all the

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hard work they did getting OV-103 ready for flight.

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The training included instruction and driving practice in M-113 armored personnel carriers,

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which can swiftly take them away from the launch pad in the unlikely event of an emergency.

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There also was emergency escape training 
at the 195-foot level of Launch Pad 39A. The astronauts jumped into

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a series of baskets suspended from slidewires that could safely whisk them to a nearby bunker on the ground, if necessary.

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Poindexter and Dutton practiced landings in 
the Shuttle Training Aircraft -- a specially

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designed jet that handles much like a space shuttle.

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The highlight of TCDT took place on the final day. Crew members put on their custom-fitted orange flight suits --

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the same ones they will wear on launch day -- and climbed aboard NASA's silver Astrovan for the short ride to the pad.

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Waiting in the pad's White Room was the Closeout Crew. They checked the astronauts' flight gear

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and helped them into their assigned seats aboard Discovery.

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Once seated inside the shuttle, crew members checked out all the dials, switches and buttons they'll use during flight.

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NASA's launch director in the Launch Control Center then led the ground crew and launch

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team through a realistic launch countdown simulation.

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With their training and launch rehearsal successfully completed, the STS-131 astronauts returned to

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Houston to continue training for their mission to the International Space Station in April.

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