sts093-s-012

STS093-S-012 (24 June 1999) --- With the Space Shuttle Columbia sitting on Launch Pad 39B in the background, the STS-93 crew members pose for a photo during a break in training at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). From the left are astronauts Michel Tognini, Jeffrey S. Ashby, Eileen M. Collins, Steven A. Hawley and Catherine G. Coleman. Tognini represents the European Space Agency (ESA). Collins will be the first woman to serve as a shuttle commander. The crew members have been taking part in a Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, which familiarizes the astronauts with the mission, provides training in emergency egress from the orbiter and the launch pad, and includes the dress rehearsal culminating with a simulated main engine cut-off (MECO). The primary mission of this crew is the release of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which is expected to allow scientists from around the world to obtain unprecedented X-ray images of the exotic environments in space to help understand the structure and evolution of the universe.