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Mike Curie/STS-131 Launch Commentator:  Standing alone on one of the world's most 
prized pieces of oceanfront

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property and lit up like a 
four-and-a-half-million-pound candle, space 
shuttle Discovery is fully fueled and

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ready for its early morning liftoff from Launch Pad 39A here at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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Discovery's bright-orange external tank is filled with more than 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

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The shuttle's power-producing fuel cells, 
general purpose computers and life support

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systems are all activated and everything is working as expected.

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About three and a half miles away from 
Discovery, launch controllers in Kennedy's 
Launch Control Center

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Firing Room 4 are overseeing all of the shuttle's systems and verifying the step-by-step processes that

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will lead to an expected liftoff at 6:21:25 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

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Discovery's crew was awakened at 8 p.m. 
Easter Sunday, ate breakfast at 8:30, 
underwent standard medical

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checks at 9 o'clock, and has been making last-minute preparations for this morning's launch attempt.

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This will be the 35th night launch in Space Shuttle Program history. And as the shuttle rockets to the northeast,

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it will make an early morning wakeup call to 
residents of the space coast as well as much of America's east

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coast as it climbs and accelerates to 17,500 mph in just eight and a half minutes.

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Right after the launch tower is cleared, Discovery will perform a roll maneuver,

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pointing it precisely on the trajectory of 51.6 degrees to catch up to the International Space Station.

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At the time of liftoff, the space station will be about 220 miles over the Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Ireland.

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But about 17 minutes before launch, at 6:04 
a.m., the space station will pass over the 
Kennedy Space Center,

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providing an excellent sighting opportunity as it moves from the south-southwest to the east.

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And it should be visible for about three minutes, peaking at a 43 degree elevation.

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So, here inside the Launch Control Center, 
the countdown for Discovery's launch is 
continuing on schedule.

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The launch window opens at 6:16:25, and our preferred and planned launch time is exactly five minutes later at 6:21:25.

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The launch window for a Flight Day 3 
rendezvous closes at 6:26:25, and for a

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Flight Day 4 rendezvous three minutes later at 6:29:35.

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NASA managers have determined that they 
would use the Flight Day 4 opportunity, if it 
became necessary.

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We're at T-3 hours and holding, this is Shuttle Launch Control.

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