STS-88 crew use simulators and virtual reality in preflight training

S98-05077 (8 Apr. 1998) --- With crew mates looking on, astronaut Nancy J. Currie, mission specialist, uses hardware in the virtual reality lab at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to train for her duties aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. She is flanked by astronaut Robert Cabana (left), commander; and Frederick W. Sturckow (right), pilot. This type computer interface paired with virtual reality training hardware for the assigned space-walking astronauts -- Jerry L. Ross and James H. Newman -- helps to prepare the entire team for dealing with International Space Station (ISS) elements. One of those elements will be the Functional Cargo Block (FGB), which will have been launched a couple of weeks prior to STS-88. Once the FGB is captured using the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) of the Endeavour, Currie will maneuver the robot arm to dock the FGB to the conical mating adapter at the top of Node 1, to be carried in the Endeavour's cargo bay. In ensuing days, three Extravehicular Activity?s (EVA) by Ross and Newman will be performed to make power, data and utility connections between the two modules. Looking on is Scott A. Bleisath (behind Currie), with the EVA Systems Group at JSC.