Shuttle Crew Arrives As Endeavour Countdown Gets Under Way
by Staff Writers
Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Mar 09, 2008 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.<p>

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

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

"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.'<p>

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.<p>

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

Endeavour's launch is scheduled for 2:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 11.<p>