KSC-99pp0322

In the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1, the STS-96 crew (foreground) looks into the payload bay of the orbiter Discovery. Standing in the bucket in the foreground are (left to right) Mission Specialists Daniel Barry (M.D., Ph.D.), Valery Ivanovich Tokarev, and Tamara E. Jernigan (Ph.D.), with a KSC worker at the controls of the bucket. In the background (center) pointing is Mission Specialist Julie Payette. Tokarev represents the Russian Space Agency and Payette the Canadian Space Agency. They are at KSC for a Crew Equipment Interface Test. The other crew members participating in the test are Commander Kent V. Rominger, Pilot Rick Douglas Husband and Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa (Ph.D.). The primary payload of STS-96 is the SPACEHAB Double Module. In addition, the Space Shuttle will carry unpressurized cargo such as the external Russian cargo crane known as STRELA; the Spacehab Oceaneering Space System Box (SHOSS), which is a logistics items carrier; and an ORU Transfer Device (OTD), a U.S.-built crane that will be stowed on the station for use during future ISS assembly missions. These cargo items will be stowed on the International Cargo Carrier, fitted inside the payload bay behind the SPACEHAB module. STS-96 is targeted for launch on May 24 from Launch Pad 39B