Golden twilight sunshine
welcomed the STS-115 astronauts on Monday as they swooped into
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. for an intensive week of training and a
realistic launch rehearsal to get them ready for their upcoming
mission.
Known as the terminal countdown demonstration test, the event
includes seemingly every part of a launch but the actual
liftoff.
The event takes place approximately two weeks before the mission
and gives the crew the chance to perform important tasks like check
the fit of their spacesuits, "shoot" landings in the Shuttle
Training Aircraft and take part in a full launch day
simulation.
Participating in the test was the entire STS-115 crew,
consisting of Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Christopher Ferguson and
Mission Specialists Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joseph Tanner,
Daniel Burbank and Steven MacLean, from the Canadian Space
Agency.
The astronauts opened the event by meeting with members of the
news media after flying to Kennedy from their home base in Houston
aboard T-38 trainer jets. The press conference took place from the
ramp of Kennedy's airfield, known as the Shuttle Landing
Facility.
Afterward, Jett and Ferguson (pictured below) spooled up the
twin engines of the Shuttle Training Aircraft to practice the
precision landing Space Shuttle Atlantis will make.
On Tuesday morning, the astronauts started the day's training
with a little "off roading" to practice driving the M-113 personnel
carriers. The vehicles are essentially little unarmed tanks and
offer a quick escape from the pad launch area in an emergency. The
training was serious, but that didn't keep smiles from spreading
across the faces of the crew members as they bounced around dirt
roads behind the pad. The fun continued in the evening when Jett
and Ferguson took another turn at the training aircraft's stick to
further perfect their landings.
When Wednesday morning arrived, the STS-115 crew once again
greeted reporters with a question-and-answer session -- this time
from a field near the launch pad.
After the news conference, they resumed their training by
practicing emergency evacuations from the site. During this
important safety exercise, the astronauts acquainted themselves
with "slidewire baskets" they can quickly hop into and ride to a
nearby safety zone. The baskets are stationed high on the pad near
the orbiter and can be released to zoom down a cable anchored a
healthy distance from the pad. It's a simple, reliable and, best of
all, fast way to clear the area.
The training week peaked on Thursday with a dress rehearsal and
simulated countdown that had the look and feel of a real launch
day. The astronauts were a familiar sight in their bright-orange
launch and entry suits as they made their way to the silver
Astrovan for a smooth ride to the launch pad. There, they entered
Atlantis and began the process of setting switches and systems
aboard the ship for flight as launch controllers ticked through the
mock countdown.
After a successful launch simulation, the crew members finished
up their test week with a careful look at the P3/P4 truss segment
secured inside the payload bay of Atlantis. After ensuring the next
space station component was fit for flight and safely tucked away
for launch, the astronauts brought the week of training and
preparations to a close.
Leaving the way that they came, Jett and his team returned to
the Shuttle Landing Facility where the T-38s awaited to take them
home to Texas. Under the amber haze of a Florida setting sun, much
like the one warming the sky on Monday evening, the STS-115
astronauts raced into the air, ready and awaiting their ultimate
liftoff. [ANN Thanks Charlie Plain and Cheryl Mansfield of NASA's
JFK Space Center for the story].