BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: And we do have live pictures of our astronauts as they are in the suit-up room.
Mark Polansky, of course, this is his second space shuttle flight. He was first pilot on mission STS-98 back in 2001.
And moving over next to him should be our pilot, William Oefelein, and of course, this is his first space flight.
And we can see that they're almost fully suited. In fact, some of them are already standing up and out of their seats.
It looks like Nicholas Patrick. Yes, he is standing up and making final checks, of course, talking with
Joan Higginbotham, who is, both of these folks are on their first shuttle flight today.
Suni Williams, of course, she's going to be taking a one-way trip up. She feels like she's very prepared.
Of course, she's not going to be spending a lot of time exercising in gravity.
She'll be doing her exercises, of course, in zero gravity over the next six months.
Christer Fuglesang, representing the European Space Agency. On his first flight,
he'll be conducting some of our spacewalks, as well. This is Bob Curbeam, yes, indeed,
as he is having his suit checked out. We've got a number of folks that are assisting with these activities today.
This is Shuttle Launch Control and, of course, these are the astronauts as
they're walking down the hallway from their crew quarters.
This is the second opportunity to launch these folks into orbit. The first opportunity,
of course, we had to scrub on Thursday night due to low clouds. But here we go again,
climbing into the elevator and looking for a good launch opportunity tonight.
And here they come, our astronauts, led by Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot
William Oefelein, Nicholas Patrick, Robert Curbeam, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Suni Williams.
The astronauts are on schedule, which is a good indication that we are back on schedule now with a
slight delay in our tanking activities. Astronauts have walked out of their crew quarters on time.
Riding along with the astronauts in the astrovan are members of the flight crew office.
We have security officers and other astronauts who'll be performing weather
assessment functions for the launch attempt today. And they're on their way to the pad.
As mentioned, astronaut Steve Lindsey will be piloting the shuttle training
aircraft which will be used for weather reconnaissance prior to and during today's launch attempt.
And the astronauts continuing to head out to the launch pad. They're making the turn toward Launch Pad 39B,
just passing the viewing gantry. For our visitors that come to Kennedy Space Center,
they get an up-close view of both Launch Pads 39A and B.
Of course, the gantry has been, has been closed today because of our launch activities,
but it will be open tomorrow for business. Astronauts heading out toward Launch Pad 39B.
And the astronaut van is climbing up the ramp; this is the 5 percent grade,
going up the ramp with the Space Shuttle Discovery ready and waiting.