Atlantis crew members say they are ready for shuttle launch

Friday, August 25, 2006 MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS MIAMI — The crew of shuttle Atlantis arrived Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center and declared itself ready for Sunday's scheduled launch. "I hope that you can tell by the smiles on our faces that we're very, very happy to be here to start the launch countdown," Brent Jett Jr. said after his crew landed at the space center in training jets. Engineers said Atlantis, which hasn't flown since 2002, also seemed ready for the third shuttle mission since the Columbia accident in February 2003. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:29 p.m. Sunday. The countdown began at noon Thursday. "The vehicle is in excellent shape," said Robbie Ashley, NASA's shuttle payload manager for this flight. "It's very clean, and we are ready to go get it in orbit and watch it do its job." And more good news came from meteorologists, who predicted a 70 percent chance of favorable weather. Jett will serve as commander of the 11-day mission. Also aboard will be pilot Christopher Ferguson and mission specialists Daniel Burbank, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joseph Tanner and Steven MacLean, a Canadian astronaut.