 Good morning. We begin NASA television coverage of mission STS-72 here at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We're just hours away from the 74th Space Shuttle Launch and the 10th Flight of the Orbiter Endeavour with a crew of six astronauts. Lift-off is planned at 4.18 a.m. Eastern Time, the opening of a 49-minute launch window. This is Shuttle Launch Control, T-minus three hours and holding. The final inspection team is on the mobile launcher platform, continuing their inspections of the vehicle. The team has about eight members representing NASA contractors and Greg Katnick of the Kennedy Space Center is leading the team. The team carries a variety of instruments. One is a portable infrared scanner to measure temperatures on the cryogenic surfaces of the tank, engines and orbiter. They also measure temperatures of the solid rocket booster cases and segment joints. And here we have the crew sitting down at the traditional table, the decorated cake bearing their STS-72 insignia. We have mission specialist Koichi Wakata flying for the first time aboard the shuttle. Koichi is an astronaut from NASA, born in Japan. And Dr. Daniel Berry flying for the first time aboard the shuttle this morning. Berry will be one of the EVA specialists and pilot Brent Jett also flying aboard the shuttle the first time. You'll be monitoring using the RMS for the flight crew while they're performing EVAs. Here we have Commander Brian Duffy flying for the third time aboard the shuttle today. Duffy the most experienced in the shuttle for the whole crew. Mission specialist Leroy Chow. He's making his second flight today aboard the shuttle. He will be involved in two of the space walks. And serving as flight engineer Winston Scott flying for the first time aboard the shuttle today. Again the crew has been awake since about 7 p.m. And they're getting right on their schedule that they'll be following during the nine day mission for Mission STS-72. The final inspection team is continuing their assessment. And we do have the astronauts at the crew quarters getting into the launch and entry suits. We've got Commander Brian Duffy. He's making his third flight into space today. It's Commander. He's got overall responsibility of the flight. He's the most experienced space flyer on this mission. And of course during the re-entry he will take control just minutes before touchdown. And will be responsible for all of the systems onboard the vehicle during the rendezvous maneuvers. And shuttle rookie Brent Jett is making his first flight. He will be assisting Duffy at the flight controls including the two rendezvous operations. Jett will also operate the robot arm during the two space walks that are planned. And NASA astronaut and mission specialist Koichi Wakata flying on the space shuttle for the first time. Wakata will be using the robot arm during the mission to retrieve the Japanese space flyer unit satellite. And will also use the arm to deploy and retrieve the host scientific flyer. Across the room flight engineer Winston Scott and mission specialist Leroy Chow. Chow making his second flight aboard the shuttle ready to go this morning. And Chow will be involved in both of the space walks planned for the mission. Also he is the prime operator for the commercial protein crystal berth experiment. Ricky shuttle astronaut Winston Scott flying for the first time. And he serves as the flight engineer for this mission. In that capacity he will be responsible for the space flyer unit systems. The host flyer systems will be operating several of the secondary experiments. And we have mission specialist Dr. Dan Berry saying he's ready to go for launch today. He's also flying for the first time aboard the shuttle. He will be involved in the first space walk of this mission. Crew will be departing for launch pad 39B in about 20-30 minutes. And it's about a 30 minute ride out to the launch pad. Again things look good for launch as far as weather is concerned. Here at KSC. And no ice concerns with the extra tank or anywhere on the vehicle at all. The ice team reported that things look very good. Here we have the astronauts for mission STS-72. Coming out of their crew quarters at the operations and checkout building. They'll be getting into an elevator where we'll ride down to the first floor. STS-726 again has been training for the better part of the year. They're spent most of their time training for this particular flight. Some employees wishing them well. We have the team led by Commander Brian Duffy. And the crew will ride out to the astronaut van to the launch pad. It's about a 30 minute ride to pad 39B. The astro van is escorted by KSC security. And the astro van is off. This is shuttle launch control. We've got the STS-72 flight crew now at the 195 foot level at the launch pad. Brian Duffy is Commander of the flight. And he has overall responsibility for the mission. Duffy is a Colonel in the Air Force. He's the most experienced space flyer on the mission. Having flown twice before as pilot of STS-45 in 1992. And STS-57 in 1993. Duffy is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. He was director of the F-15 test flights at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida before being selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1985. And mission specialist Dr. Dan Berry now getting ready to take his assigned seat. He will be seated down in the mid-deck for ascent. He calls South Hadley, Massachusetts, his hometown. And he earned five degrees after high school including a doctorate in electrical engineering computer science from Princeton University and a doctorate in medicine from the University of Miami. And Commander Duffy has nicknamed him Dr. Dr. Dan. Mission specialist Koichi Wakata is now getting the rest of his gear on getting ready for his first flight aboard the space shuttle. Wakata is from the Japanese Space Agency. And we'll be operating the remote manipulator system robotic arm. He's responsible for grappling the satellites. And for both of them in the orbiters payload bay. CPF SOTC, this is CPF SOTC. This time I give you 5-71-OA-12B of work. He's completed implementation of step 92. That'll be steps 499-506. Endeavour, OTC, air to ground two. Copy. Who are loud and clear? I'm loud and clear. Who are loud and clear? Copy all loud and clear. Proceeding with ICOM-A, checks. C-N-Q-C-O-G-C, 2-1-2. Go ahead, sir. 680. Between T-minus 9 minutes and T-minus 31 seconds, the countdown clock will be restarted upon successful resolution of the problem without a ghost-erate made of all elements. If the launch cannot be accomplished with the launch window as the following time is exceeded, cut-off will be given. Launch train back hold time is 5 minutes 36 seconds. PLT, at T-minus 5 minutes, perform APS start upon command of OTC only. You all take copies. And CDL, the PAD EGRIS system is normal configuration. Evacuation helipad is number 9. Roger, number 9. NTDC-CSE. Hello, T-C-C-C. Ah, yes, sir. We're looking at the difference between our CTO-5 and the LCC that Mara was talking about. We're going at this time. Do you all go at this time? That's affirmative. We've got confirmed data now, one and two. And I recommend it. Recommendation would be to proceed. Copy. FBE. Or ATDFBE, or we're going at this time. No constraints for launch, correct? That's fine. Copy. NTDC-CSE. 931. Corn 37. Zulu. NTDC-CSE. Go ahead, fly. Yeah, with this hardware change and verifying the entire configuration, we have a problem with white stands and the modulation. We'd like to hold here at five minutes and straighten out white stands so that we'll be able to get TDRS after launch. I copy. Flight. Hold the clock at five minutes. Yes, copies. Confirm, confirm. Behold at T-minus. T-minus, five minutes and counting. T-minus, five minutes and counting. T-L-T-O-T-C, perform ATU start. CDROTC, reconfigure heaters. Turn up the light. A profile test of the orbiter's aero surfaces has started. The orbiter flight control surfaces are being moved through a pre-programmed pattern to verify they are ready for launch. The main engines are being gimbled and positioned for launch. All systems are go at this time just a few minutes away from the 10th voyage of Endeavour with a crew of six on the first shuttle flight of the year. T-minus, three minutes and counting. So for ET-L-O-T pressure station. External tank is now being pressurized for flight. The gaseous oxygen vent hood at the very top of the tank will be moved away, retracted back to the launch position in the next few seconds. Caution, warning memory verified. No one expected errors. ATC question of warning. As for ATC, close and lock your visors. Initiate O2 flow. Have a smooth ride and a safe flight. Thanks, ATC. And let's get 96 off the object to start. For ET-L-O-T pressure station. At the T-minus 31 second point Endeavour's onboard computers will have control of vehicle functions. Go for auto-secret start. In the next few seconds, thousands of gallons of water will be dumped onto the launch platform to help suppress the sound and shock of the 7 million pounds of thrust produced by the shuttle. T-minus 15 seconds. 12, 11, 10, 9, 8. We have a go for engine start. 3, 2, 1. Booster ignition and lift off of Endeavour in pursuit of a Japanese satellite. What are the error times? Houston, M-C-T-1. 7, 2, 1, 8. Roll the program, Houston. Ride your roll, Endeavour. Roll maneuver is completed for the Uber and Endeavour. Pressure on the vehicle. Trotting back up. Three liquid-fueled engines are now back at full throttle. The motor is now downrange from the Kennedy Space Center of 10 nautical miles. The Uber is traveling 2,600 feet per second, or about 1,700 miles per hour. The altitude is passing through 90,000 feet. Three hydraulic systems are in excellent shape. As are the fuel cells, the main engines are still performing at full throttle. Approaching two minutes into the flight, standing by for burnout and separation of the twin solid rocket boosters. The separation is confirmed. Time two minutes and 20 seconds into the flight. Performance thus far in the launch phase has been as expected. Endeavour is now at an altitude of 210,000 feet. Downrange from the launch site, 45 nautical miles. Now traveling 5,000 feet per second or about 3,400 miles per hour.