KSC-98pc1308

STS-95 Mission Specialist Pedro Duque of Spain (left), representing the European Space Agency (ESA), and Mission Specialist Scott E. Parazynski (right) signal they are ready to leave Launch Pad 39B in the slidewire basket during an emergency egress exercise. Duque and Parazynski, along with other crew members, are at KSC to participate in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) which includes mission familiarization activities, emergency egress training, and a simulated main engine cutoff. Not shown are Mission Commander Curtis L. Brown, Pilot Steven W. Lindsey, Mission Specialist Stephen K. Robinson, Payload Specialists John H. Glenn Jr., senator from Ohio, and Chiaki Mukai (M.D., Ph.D.), representing the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). The STS-95 mission, targeted for liftoff on Oct. 29, includes research payloads such as the Spartan solar-observing deployable spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform, the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker, as well as the SPACEHAB single module with experiments on space flight and the aging process. Following the TCDT, the crew will be returning to Houston for final flight preparations