CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -
Endeavour's astronauts capped a practice countdown Monday with an emergency
escape exercise, keeping NASA on track for the planned March 11 launch of
another International Space Station construction mission.
Clad in partial-pressure
launch-and-entry suits and space helmets with dark visors, the astronauts
exited the orbiter's side hatch on the 195-foot level of its Kennedy Space
Center launch tower. The hurry-up came after a simulated main engine shutdown
and launch-pad abort as countdown clocks hit T-minus four seconds.
It wound up a launch-day
dress rehearsal that rocketed NASA toward a 20-day turnaround between shuttle
missions. Atlantis and another station assembly crew landed
at KSC a week ago Wednesday.
"The Kennedy Space
Center is running at a pretty fast pace, as you can imagine, with two launches
like this back to back," shuttle skipper Dom Gorie said Sunday.
"They've got a great thing going; we're going to keep it going with
Endeavour's launch here on March 11."
Gorie and six crewmates are
scheduled to blast off about 2:30 a.m. that day on a mission to deliver the
first section of the Japanese Kibo science research facility to the outpost.
The crew also is hauling up
a two-armed Canadian robot that will carry out station maintenance work that
otherwise would have to be done by spacewalking astronauts.
The practice countdown and
emergency drill comprised the crew's last major KSC training exercise prior to
launch.
The latter mimicked what an
astronaut crew would do in the event of a fire, explosion, hazardous gas leak
or other emergency at the launch pad.
NASA's twin shuttle launch
pads each are equipped with a slidewire system that would whisk astronauts in
metal baskets down to a bunker on the far western edge of the complex.
The crew checked out the
baskets but did not ride them to the ground. NASA safety officials deem that an
unnecessary risk.
The astronauts flew to
Houston on Monday afternoon. They'll report back to KSC on March 7. The real
launch countdown begins the next day.
Published under license
from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright: 2008 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material
may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
advertisement
