Photos: Preparing for lift-off

Astronauts Stephen K. Robinson (left), Charles J. Camarda, Andrew S. W. Thomas and Soichi Noguchi participate in Return to Flight training aboard NASA's KC-135 aircraft. The aircraft, based at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center, frequently flies a series of parabola patterns over the Gulf of Mexico to let astronauts and investigators to experience brief periods of weightlessness.

Photo by NASA