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Julie Payette's Journal

Launch -10 days
Kennedy Space Center – Florida
June 3, 2009

The crew of STS-127 is at Cape Kennedy for a launch dress rehearsal. Two days of intensive training on the Shuttle, followed by launch-and-entry suit checks, security briefings and final equipment verification.

This afternoon, my crew and I inspected the equipment installed inside Endeavour's payload bay. We put on special "bunny suits" that cover us from head to toe, before entering a “clean room” hidden behind the Rotating Service Structure, a protective cover for the shuttle on the launch pad.

Barely noticeable from outside, this clean room is a real hive of activity inside, with scaffolding and floodlights...and there right in front of us, Endeavour's payload doors wide open. All our equipment was there, snugly mounted inside the cargo bay. I took a minute to admire the two Canadian arms – the Canadarm and the inspection boom – perfectly lined up on their respective sill with the CANADA banner and the maple leaf well in view. These arms are symbols of Canadian technology and know-how. In about a week from now, I will be at the commands of these magnificent space robots. What an opportunity!

Earlier in the day we had training in Launch Pad Emergency procedures that included driving an evacuation tank. This tank (a real tank!) is parked by a bunker at the foot of the launch pad, ready to be used by the Shuttle and Pad crew to quickly and safely get away from the area in the event of a serious problem during countdown.

Each and every crewmember must be familiar with how to operate this tank, so we each had a turn behind the wheel. Driving the tank is a blast.