With their training in Houston now complete, the seven space shuttle Discovery astronauts flew to the Florida spaceport this morning in preparation for Monday's predawn blastoff to the International Space Station.

See crew arrival photo gallery

Commander Alan Poindexter, pilot Jim Dutton and mission specialists Rick Mastracchio, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, Naoko Yamazaki and Clay Anderson traveled from Ellington Field to the Kennedy Space Center in a Gulfstream jet, touching down at 6:48 a.m. EDT.

"It's a beautiful morning here at Kennedy Space Center and the crew is very happy to be here as you can see," Poindexter told reporters after stepping off the plane.

In addition to a large group of journalists and photographers at the runway, also greeting the crew were KSC director Bob Cabana and launch director Pete Nickolenko.

"We had a short flyby of the pad and saw the good ship Discovery out there and it looks great. And we're ready to go. Just a short 96 hours from now we should be launching," Poindexter added.

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Discovery's mission to the orbiting station will deliver critical resupply items and new science equipment amounting to thousands of pounds. All activities remain targeted for launch at 6:21 a.m. EDT (1021 GMT) on Monday.

"The crew's ready to go and we're looking forward to our mission to the International Space Station. It's a complex 13-day mission, it's main mission is resupply. We also have three very challenging EVAs," Poindexter said.

"We have seven racks to deliver to the International Space Station, including four research and science racks. We're looking forward to getting those onboard," Poindexter said.

After making the brief statements to the press and posing for photos, the crew was bussed away to the crew quarters building where they had dinner. Later, the astronauts visited launch pad 39A to perform a final inspection of the mission payloads installed in the orbiter before the cargo bay doors are closed for flight this afternoon.

Bedtime will be 12 p.m. EDT, as the crew shifts its wake/sleep cycle for the overnight work hours of the mission. They will be awakened at 8 p.m. EDT tonight for a day devoted to landing practice using the Shuttle Training Aircraft, prepping their flight data files, checking out the spacesuits that will be worn during launch and entry.

"It's hard to believe it's been over a year now that we've been preparing for this mission. It's just great to be here this week, just four days out from launch," Dutton said.

At launch pad 39A, technicians are running through the routine final steps to ready Discovery for the launch countdown. Clocks are scheduled to start ticking at 3 a.m. EDT Friday for the three-day sequence leading to Monday's liftoff.

"We wanted to thank the dedicated team of professionals down here that's been working so far for the past several weeks to put the final touches on the vehicle and getting ready to get into the launch countdown early tomorrow morning," Poindexter said.

The weather forecast for launch time is calling for an 80 percent chance of acceptable conditions. The chance of fog or a low-cloud ceiling are the two potential worries.

Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF DISCOVERY'S LAUNCH COUNTDOWN PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: FULL FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: RECAP OF THE FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: HELIUM VALVE NO CONSTRAINT TO LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MANAGERS ASSESS ISSUES BEFORE FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: UPDATE ON PRE-LAUNCH PREPS AT PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH STS-131 PAYLOAD MANAGER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH BOEING PAYLOAD MANAGER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAYLOADS DELIVERED TO LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TRANSPORT CANISTER ROTATED VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LEONARDO PLACED INTO THE TRANSPORTER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: STATION'S NEW AMMONIA COOLANT TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LEONARDO HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF

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VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE EVACUATION PRACTICE PLAY | HI-DEF
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VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS BOARD DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW BRIEFED ON EMERGENCY PROCEDURES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TEST-DRIVING AN EMERGENCY ARMORED TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
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VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS CHAT WITH REPORTERS AT PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: GANTRY PLACED AROUND DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: DISCOVERY REACHES PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
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VIDEO: CRANE ROTATES THE ORBITER VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: DISCOVERY MOVES TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS VISIT THEIR SPACECRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
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VIDEO: EXTERNAL TANK ATTACHED TO BOOSTERS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FUEL TANK LIFTED INTO CHECKOUT CELL PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: EXTERNAL TANK ARRIVES AT SPACEPORT PLAY | HI-DEF
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