KSC-98pc1496

STS-88 Mission Specialist Nancy J. Currie prepares to operate an M-113, an armored personnel carrier, as part of emergency egress training under the watchful eye of instructor George Hoggard (left) during Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) activities. The TCDT also provides the crew with simulated countdown exercises and opportunities to inspect their mission payloads in the orbiter's payload bay. Mission STS-88 is targeted for launch on Dec. 3, 1998. It is the first U.S. flight for the assembly of the International Space Station and will carry the Unity connecting module. Others in the STS-88 crew are Mission Commander Robert D. Cabana; Pilot Frederick W. "Rick" Sturckow; and Mission Specialists Jerry L. Ross, James H. Newman, and Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut