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Music

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Early in the morning along the east central Florida coast, rescue teams on land,

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sea and in the air sprang to action.

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Helicopters were silhouetted against the sky.

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Boats cut through the choppy seas.

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Military leaders huddled over computer monitors displaying real-time tracking.

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It was only a drill, but the scenario played out like a real

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space shuttle launch-day emergency.

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The shuttle search and rescue drill was a cooperative effort between NASA

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and the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

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It simulated an emergency situation where a space shuttle crew would need to

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bail out of their orbiter after liftoff and be rescued from the Atlantic Ocean.

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The exercise known as Mode eight was made as realistic as possible with

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complicated medical and communications challenges that would be experienced

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in a real bail-out situation.

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The shuttle crew in the drill was made up of real astronauts and volunteers,

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with each assigned various medical needs during the rescue.

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Unlike other such drills in the past, this one concentrated on a launch path that

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will be used during space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125

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Hubble repair mission this fall.

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After liftoff, the shuttle will head directly eastward out over the Atlantic Ocean

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instead of curving closer to the coast putting a rescue effort farther out to sea.

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This was the fifteenth Mode eight drill with the first conducted

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almost 20 years ago.

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And while a sea rescue of a shuttle crew is the most complicated,

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it is just one of several emergency rescue drills conducted regularly.

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The teams involved in the Mode eight were able to sharpen their skills while

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demonstrating their ability to recover astronauts quickly

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and provide en route medical care.

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