WEBVTT

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BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: And we do have live pictures of our astronauts as they are in the suit-up room.

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Mark Polansky, of course, this is his second space shuttle flight. He was first pilot on mission STS-98 back in 2001.

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And moving over next to him should be our pilot, William Oefelein, and of course, this is his first space flight.

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And we can see that they're almost fully suited. In fact, some of them are already standing up and out of their seats.

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It looks like Nicholas Patrick. Yes, he is standing up and making final checks, of course, talking with

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Joan Higginbotham, who is, both of these folks are on their first shuttle flight today.

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Suni Williams, of course, she's going to be taking a one-way trip up. She feels like she's very prepared.

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Of course, she's not going to be spending a lot of time exercising in gravity.

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She'll be doing her exercises, of course, in zero gravity over the next six months.

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Christer Fuglesang, representing the European Space Agency. On his first flight,

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he'll be conducting some of our spacewalks, as well. This is Bob Curbeam, yes, indeed,

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as he is having his suit checked out. We've got a number of folks that are assisting with these activities today.

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This is Shuttle Launch Control and, of course, these are the astronauts as

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they're walking down the hallway from their crew quarters.

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This is the second opportunity to launch these folks into orbit. The first opportunity,

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of course, we had to scrub on Thursday night due to low clouds. But here we go again,

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climbing into the elevator and looking for a good launch opportunity tonight.

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And here they come, our astronauts, led by Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot

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William Oefelein, Nicholas Patrick, Robert Curbeam, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Suni Williams.

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The astronauts are on schedule, which is a good indication that we are back on schedule now with a

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slight delay in our tanking activities. Astronauts have walked out of their crew quarters on time.

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Riding along with the astronauts in the astrovan are members of the flight crew office.

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We have security officers and other astronauts who'll be performing weather

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assessment functions for the launch attempt today. And they're on their way to the pad.

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As mentioned, astronaut Steve Lindsey will be piloting the shuttle training

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aircraft which will be used for weather reconnaissance prior to and during today's launch attempt.

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And the astronauts continuing to head out to the launch pad. They're making the turn toward Launch Pad 39B,

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just passing the viewing gantry. For our visitors that come to Kennedy Space Center,

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they get an up-close view of both Launch Pads 39A and B.

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Of course, the gantry has been, has been closed today because of our launch activities,

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but it will be open tomorrow for business. Astronauts heading out toward Launch Pad 39B.

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And the astronaut van is climbing up the ramp; this is the 5 percent grade,

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going up the ramp with the Space Shuttle Discovery ready and waiting.

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