Discovery's crew fields questions at launch pad

The seven member crew of the next space shuttle flight stood before their spacecraft and answered questions from the media this morning here at the Kennedy Space Center.

The crew flew into America's space coast on Monday for a week of launch pad training and a practice launch countdown on Friday.

Discovery's mission commander Alan Poindexter discussed his feelings on his crew's training this week at Kennedy, "It's a great exercise... it allows us to interface with the flight hardware. It allows us to exercise all the things were going to do an emergency egress".

Know as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, every shuttle crew participates in a series of drills and familiarization of the launch pad region; drive an armored emergency escape vehicle; and will suit up in their launch suits and board Discovery early tomorrow morning.

"We are so impressed by what's around us. I am touched by the banner 'We're behind you Discovery' ... its a team work," Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Discovery is scheduled to launch just before sunrise on April 5.

Once on orbit, the shuttle will dock two days later with the International Space Station and begin eight days of servicing and resupplying the outpost.

Discovery's crew will return home to south Houston late on Friday, and have this weekend off.

The next three weeks will focus on several practice sims as the crew perfects their on orbit duties and timelines involved. Every mission is based on rigid timelines which the crew must maintain during their day in space.

The crew will return back to Kennedy on April 1st for launch on Easter Monday.