STS-123 - Crew Arrives, Countdown Under Way

From left are Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, and Takao Doi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency; Pilot Gregory H. Johnson; Commander Dominic Gorie; and Mission Specialists Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan and Robert L. Behnken. Photo credit: NASA/KSC

(NASA) – The space shuttle Endeavour astronauts are at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final launch preparations for their STS-123 mission to the International Space Station.

The crew arrived at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility in a Shuttle Training Aircraft at 1:21 a.m. EST Saturday, March 8.

After arriving in a driving rainstorm, Endeavour Commander Dominic Gorie made a few comments to media gathered at the runway.

“I think once we get the weather done today we’ll have a good shot at launching this week. But we just wanted to convey how excited we are to be here for launch week. We’ve got a great training team, they’ve got us ready.”

The countdown for the launch of space shuttle Endeavour began on time at 3 a.m. EST in Firing Room 4 of the launch control center. The clock picked up at the T-43 hour mark.

The launch weather forecast calls for only a 10% chance of not meeting the launch weather criteria, primarily due to a low cloud ceiling.

Endeavour’s launch is scheduled for 2:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 11.

Next mission status briefing will air at 8:30 a.m. EDT Sunday on NASA TV.

Feel free to discuss this article in the forum…