Tom's WEB Blog

The seven-member Space Shuttle Discovery crew is at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to participate in the terminal countdown demonstration test. On Wednesday the astronauts took part in several morning briefings, then spent the afternoon at Launch Pad 39B for emergency egress training and a visit to Discovery's payload bay. A standard part of prelaunch training, the test allows the astronauts to try on their launch and entry suits, learn emergency procedures at the launch pad, and a variety of familiarization activities and briefings. The highlight of the training schedule is a simulated countdown, set for Thursday morning. Space Shuttle Discovery is in launch position at Launch Pad 39B, and the mission's primary payloads, the P5 integrated truss segment and the SPACEHAB module, have been installed inside the orbiter's payload bay. The launch window opens Dec. 7 for the STS-116 mission to the International Space Station.