Virgin Galactic had 10 tickets up for grabs for their future astronauts, and yours truly is one of the lucky recipients of one of them! I feel like I’ve just bitten into a Willie Wonka bar and found a golden ticket. I’ll take lots of photos for TalkingScience Space Cadets, of course.

The launch is scheduled for Feb. 12 at 7:32am, and the astronauts (Commander Lee Archambault, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata) will stay on the International Space Station for 14 days. There’s a lot to do before then, of course–the two-day Flight Readiness Review started this morning. Here’s the scoop, straight from NASA:

Wed. Jan. 21, 2009, 11:09 AM

After climbing into their orange flight suits — the same ones they’ll wear on launch day — the crew was driven to Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A.

The highlight of the day is a simulated launch countdown, which includes climbing into Discovery’s flight deck aided by NASA’s Closeout Crew. The members of the Closeout Crew help the astronauts strap into the space shuttle’s crew module and take care of any other last-minute needs that may arise.

The spacecraft’s hatch will be closed briefly for leak checks and then opened again while the astronauts perform all of their countdown procedures — much like launch day, only the boosters and engines won’t ignite.

Later, the astronauts will fly their T-38 jets back to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.