Music.
The six astronauts who will fly Space Shuttle Atlantis recently completed a full
launch dress rehearsal, known as the terminal countdown demonstration test.
The crew members, wearing traditional blue flight suits, arrived in T-38
training jets and were greeted by the media, NASA officials and Kennedy employees.
After a short briefing, the flight crew was off for its first trip to Launch Pad 39A.
The entire crew also practiced driving the M-113 armored personnel carrier.
The M-113 is a small tank the astronauts could use to drive safely away from the launch pad in the unlikely event of an emergency.
Late in the afternoon, Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Lee Archambault took to the skies
to practice landing in a specially designed jet that handles much like the space shuttle.
On the second day of the countdown, the astronauts left their quarters for the 20-minute ride to the pad.
The day's safety training at the 195-foot level of the pad included learning how to escape by hopping into
a series of baskets suspended from slidewires, which could safely glide them to a nearby bunker on the ground, if necessary.
On the final day of the test, the crew members -- decked out in their orange flight suits --
visited the launch pad for additional exercises.
They climbed aboard the elevator for a short ride to the payload changeout room,
located in the rotating service structure that surrounds and protects the orbiter.
The crew members were then seated in the cockpit of Atlantis, where they checked out all the dials,
switches and levers they'll use in actual flight conditions.
The training ended with a realistic launch countdown rehearsal and engine cut-off exercise.
With safety training successfully completed, the astronauts flew back to
Johnson Space Center in Houston for final launch preparations.
Liftoff of Atlantis on the next mission to continue constructing the International Space Station is targeted for March 15.