Air Force Col. Lee Archambault will land on familiar ground today when he leads shuttle Discovery's crew to Kennedy Space Center for three days of pre-launch training.
The commander of the shuttle's planned Feb. 12 mission visited KSC regularly for years as a member of NASA's "Cape Crusaders," a team of up to eight astronauts that supports space-bound shuttle crews.

The Astronaut Support Personnel -- nicknamed Cape Crusaders because of their frequent trips between Houston and Cape Canaveral -- assist with everything from orbiter cockpit configurations to strapping astronauts into their seats before liftoff.
Among other benefits, the job "takes a lot of the mystery away from what happens on launch day, when you're getting ready to get suited up to go out to the pad," Archambault said in a recent interview.

Archambault, 47, fully cracked that mystery during his first spaceflight 18 months ago, when he piloted Atlantis to the International Space Station.
Now, he's returning to the outpost as commander of the seven-person Discovery crew, tasked with delivering the final set of solar wings to the station. Those wings will complete the station's power supply.
Starting today, the crew will practice emergency launch pad escapes, including how to slide to the ground from the pad's 195-foot height and how to drive an M-113 armored personnel carrier to safety.

Archambault and pilot Tony Antonelli also will practice landing a modified jet that simulates shuttle approaches and landings.
The training culminates Wednesday in a full dress rehearsal of the launch countdown, a process that involves the Cape Crusaders supporting Discovery's crew.
Archambault was assigned to the support team in 2001 and led it for an Endeavour mission in 2002 and for Discovery's Return to Flight in 2005 -- the first mission after the loss of Columbia's crew in 2003.

Archambault said that work helped him become more familiar with the KSC facilities where shuttles are readied for flight.
It is those places that feel more comfortable for the self-described "blue-collar" astronaut, who grew up in a working-class Chicago suburb and leads with a "not afraid to get your knuckles dirty" work ethic, he said.

"It makes me enjoy very much being around a lot of the folks turning wrenches at the Orbiter Processing Facility, or working the Vehicle Assembly Building, or working out there on the launch pad," Archambault said.

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