STS-121 Crew Arrives at NASA Spaceport for Launch Rehearsal

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The next seven astronauts to fly the space shuttle Discovery arrived at NASA’s Florida spaceport Tuesday, each confident they will launch early next month and eager for a final dress rehearsal, their commander said.
Veteran shuttle astronaut Steven Lindsey, commander of NASA’s STS-121 shuttle mission slated to launch July 1, said he believes the mission will lift off early in its 19-day flight window.
“I and my crew are pretty optimistic that early July looks good,” Lindsey said after his crew landed here at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to practice launch countdown procedures with shuttle ground crews and mission controllers.
NASA managers will meet at KSC this weekend to pick a hard launch date for the STS-121 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the space agency’s second planned shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia accident, and hold press conference Saturday afternoon, NASA said in a statement.