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Julie Payette's Journal

Kennedy Space Center –
July 8, 2009

Hello my friends!

The crew of STS-127 is back at the Kennedy Space Center for a launch on Saturday 11 July at 7:39 p.m. EDT. We were all set to fly our own T-38 training jets from Houston to the Cape, but the weather did not cooperate and we came down in one of our Shuttle Training Aircraft (that can be seen behind us on the photo). As you can see, the crew has not changed much since mid-June. We are in great spirit, well rested, and as ready to go as we were three weeks ago. One of the good things that came out of this delay is that the launch will now take place at night rather than in the morning, so we did not have to shift our sleep cycle by 12 hours like we did last time. Quarantine is much more fun now that we are living during the day, like everyone else in Florida!

Our technical teams do not report any anomalies with Endeavour’s systems at this time and the countdown is proceeding normally. The only major uncertainty is the weather. In the middle of July, South Florida is a factory of late afternoon thunderstorms and we cannot launch if there is the possibility of lightning within a 20-mile (32 km) range from the launch pad. We are closely monitoring the weather forecast and you can be sure that if there is the slightest opening in the weather on Saturday night, we’ll go.

Thanks to all of you for your numerous messages of encouragement over the past few weeks. I felt the support and know that I won’t be alone on this great journey. In fact, there is a small group of die-hards among you that are “crazy” enough to make the trip to Florida again and brave the weather to see us off. I am very impressed and grateful to know that you will be there. And for those of you who will make your first trip or will watch on television, be ready for the greatest show on Earth.

More to come...

Julie

Launch -3 days and counting!