Shuttle Discovery's seven astronauts this morning have braved blustery winds at Kennedy Space Center from the 195-foot level of launch pad 39A's Fixed Service Structure. That's where the crew will enter the orbiter Wednesday morning during a countdown dress rehearsal for their targeted Feb. 12 launch to the International Space Station.
It's also where the astronauts would rush to a system of slide wire baskets that would hurtle them to the ground if they needed to escape a fire or other emergency.
The crew this morning learned how to use the basket system, which has never been needed during a mission.
The second of three days of training at KSC continues with briefings in the Launch Control Center.
Discovery's crew is led by mission commander Lee Archambault, and includes pilot Tony Antonelli and mission specialists Joe Acaba, Richard Arnold, John Phillips, Steve Swanson and Koichi Wakata.
Out at the launch pad today, the crew will also examine their mission's primary payload from the Payload Changeout Room.
Discovery's payload bay doors are scheduled to close at midnight around cargo, a nearly 31,000-pound, $300-million truss segment being delivered to the space station.
The truss segment is the 11th and final piece of the station's backbone, and will unfurl the final pair of power-generating solar arrays.
Also today, Archambault and Antonelli will continue practice landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft, a jet modified to handle like an orbiter on descent.
IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the image. Discovery mission specialist Steve Swanson is shown practicing a dismount from a slide wire basket at launch pad 39A during training in 2007 for the STS-117 mission. Mission specialist Danny Olivas assisted. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.
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