CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After safely reaching its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Discovery now awaits its next major milestone for the upcoming STS-124 mission. A launch dress rehearsal, known as the terminal countdown demonstration test, is scheduled to take place at Kennedy from May 6 to 9.

Discovery arrived at the pad at 4:25 a.m. EDT Saturday on top of a giant crawler-transporter. The crawler-transporter left Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building at 11:47 p.m. Friday, traveling less than 1 mph during the 3.4-mile journey. The shuttle was secured on the launch pad at 6:06 a.m. Saturday.

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA, gave two presentations to Italian schools which had participated in ARISS contacts in October 2007. On Wednesday, April 23, Nespoli spoke to 565 students from Galileo Galilei High School of Civitavecchia, Guglielmo Marconi High School of Civitavecchia and Giosuè Carducci Secondary School in Santa Marinella. On April 24, he spoke with 400 students from Aula Magna of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of L'Aquila. ARISS member Francesco De Paolis, IKØWGF, gave a talk on the ARISS program and Nespoli gave a presentation on the Esperia mission which also highlighted the ARISS contacts. Television stations and newspapers covered the events and photographs have been posted to the ARISS-Europe Web site. See: http://www.ariss-eu.org/2008_04_27.htm