As space shuttle Discovery's astronauts jetted into Kennedy Space Center Sunday night for their launch countdown dress rehearsal, mission commander Eileen Collins voiced support for NASA's decision to delay liftoff until July.

Space agency officials announced Friday that the shuttle return to flight would slip from May 22 to July 13 to give engineers much-needed time to finish launch debris analysis and resolve nagging technical issues on Discovery.

"We're hoping you are not too disappointed with this. I know we were marching along toward the (May) launch date, but I truly believe we have made the right decision in going to July," Collins told mosquito-swatting reporters and photographers gathered at the Shuttle Landing Facility runway to see the crew following the 8:20 p.m. arrival.

"And like anything in life, the longer you prepare for something, the better it's going to be. We want this mission to be very, very successful. Everything we do we want to be very successful, and this is going to give us more time to make sure we haven't missed anything and to make sure the objectives that we want to obtain on this mission are completed as safely and successfully as possible."


Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: WATCH COLLINS' ADDRESS TO THE MEDIA SUNDAY NIGHT QT
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF DISCOVERY'S MISSION DIAL-UP | BROADBAND
VIDEO: THE SPACE STATION WITHOUT SHUTTLE DIAL-UP | BROADBAND
VIDEO: MEET DISCOVERY'S SEVEN ASTRONAUTS DIAL-UP | BROADBAND
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Collins, pilot Jim Kelly and mission specialists Soichi Noguchi, Steven Robinson, Andy Thomas, Wendy Lawrence and Charlie Camarda will spend the next few days at the Cape practicing how to escape from the shuttle if an emergency arises during the countdown. Also, the commander and pilot will fly the Shuttle Training Aircraft on Monday to sharpen their skills approaching the KSC runway.

The highlight comes Wednesday morning when the crewmates don their launch spacesuits, travel to pad 39B and climb aboard Discovery for the final three hours of a mock countdown.

"This is a great event for our crew. We love coming down here for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT as we call it. We are going to get some great training for the three days that we are here. Our training revolves around emergency procedures, understanding what is taking place in the launch countdown procedures and operations -- we'll have classes on that," Collins said.

The countdown climaxes with a simulated shutdown of Discovery's three main engines at T-minus 3 seconds around 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT).

"We'll be strapping in, just like we'll be doing on launch day, and going through the procedures with the launch control team. This is great practice for them as well as it is for us," Collins said.

Following the TCDT, technicians plan to roll Discovery back to the Vehicle Assembly Building so that the external fuel tank can be fitted with ice-defeating heaters.