WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

STS-96 Mission Specialist Valery Ivanovich Tokarev practices driving the small armored personnel carrier that is part of emergency egress training during Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) activities. Riding the front of the carrier is Capt. Steve Kelly (left), with Space Gateway Support, who is assisting with the training. Behind them are Pilot Rick Douglas Husband (waving), and Mission Specialists Daniel Barry (M.D., Ph.D.) and Tamara E. Jernigan (Ph.D.) (waving). The tracked vehicle could be used by the crew in the event of an emergency at the pad during which the crew must make a quick exit from the area. The TCDT also provides simulated countdown exercises and opportunities to inspect the mission payloads in the orbiter's payload bay. Other crew members taking part in the TCDT are Commander Kent V. Rominger and Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa (Ph.D.) and Julie Payette, with the Canadian Space Agency. Tokarev is with the Russian Space Agency. Mission STS-96, which is scheduled for liftoff on May 20 at 9:32 a.m., is a logistics and resupply mission for the International Space Station, carrying such payloads as a Russian crane, the Strela; a U.S.-built crane; the Spacehab Oceaneering Space System Box (SHOSS), a logistics items carrier; and STARSHINE, a student-led experiment.