Space Shuttle Discovery Astronauts Rehearse Launch Day

Miami (dbTechno) - The crew of the NASA space shuttle Discovery completed a successful rehearsal on Friday to prepare for their upcoming launch planned for May 31.

Seven STS-124 astronauts are scheduled to launch on May 31 at 5:02p.m. ET to bring the largest piece of the Japanese Kibo Laboratory to the International Space Station.

The Kibo room weighs in at 32,500 pounds and will be making the trip as they launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

They finished their practice rehearsal with a simulated countdown to launch at 11:00 a.m. on Friday morning.

The astronauts, on top of bringing the laboratory room, will complete three spacewalks in total during their 13-day mission.

The practice launch took place at launch pad 39A and began around 8:15 a.m. ET on Friday morning.

The members of the crew for the shuttle include pilot Ken Ham, mission specialists Karen Nyberg, Mike Fossum, Ron Garan, Greg Camitoff, as well as Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.

This was the final training exercise at Cape Canaveral until the launch. They will be back in Florida on May 28th.