Discovery Commander Lindsey: "Ready to Fly"

Space shuttle Discovery's crew talked this morning about their upcoming mission to the International Space Station, which is also the last flight of NASA's oldest active shuttle. The crew met with news media at Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center where Discovery stands with its solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank.

"We are basically trained and ready to fly, just a few more weeks of activities to go through and then we'll hopefully be back here for an on-time launch Nov. 1," Commander Steve Lindsey said. This will be Lindsey's fifth time in space and the third time aboard Discovery. "It's a privilege for us to be able to fly Discovery's last flight," he said.

The astronauts are at Kennedy this week for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration test, or TCDT, which is a week of training that concludes with a full launch day dress rehearsal minus the liftoff. That practice session will come tomorrow and the crew will fly back to their training base at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in the afternoon.