NASA Astronauts Prepare for Hubble Mission

May 8, 2009— -- As the countdown gets underway for the fifth and final space shuttle mission to save the Hubble space telescope, the seven astronauts getting ready for the flight of a lifetime shared their thoughts with ABC News.

What's it like to be this close to launching into space?

Scott Altman dreams about landing the space shuttle. Meghan McArthur mentally rehearses grabbing Hubble with the space shuttle's robotic arm. Greg Johnson hopes he throws all the switches in the right order during launch. Drew Feustel was scrambling to get NASA TV installed at home so his family can watch his spacewalks.

John Grunsfeld is planning a surprise for his 20th wedding anniversary – even though he will be in orbit. Mike Good is trying to get college professors to change finals for his sons so they won't miss their dad's first launch into space. Mike Massimino made sure all his paperwork was finished.

Commander Scott Altman -- his Navy call sign is Scooter -- is a veteran of three space shuttle missions, and this is his second trip to Hubble. His last-minute to do list includes making sure all his family members coming to the launch have what they need.

His one regret is missing his son's graduation from Rice University on Saturday. Scooter will be in Florida getting ready for the flight.

What does a space shuttle commander practice over and over in his mind before he launches? Landings. He says he dreams about landing the orbiter.

"After my first landing, I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic. I can't remember putting the landing gear down, wait we landed, it's all okay, I guess we did it, never mind, I guess we can go back to sleep," he said.

Pilot Greg Johnson would like Altman to sleep through a landing. He joked to us, "I am working on how I can make sure Scooter is incapacitated so I can take the landings."

Scooter replied, "A mutiny!"

Johnson checked his menu for the mission and noticed something missing: Pudding. He likes to have pudding for dessert every night and completely forgot to add it to the spaceflight menu.