SPACEPHOTOS

(04/28/1999) --- The STS-96 crew take a photo break during Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) activities at Launch Pad 39B. From left, they are Mission Specialists Valery Ivanovich Tokarev, Daniel Barry (M.D., Ph.D.), Julie Payette, Ellen Ochoa (Ph.D.), Commander Kent V. Rominger, Mission Specialist Tamara E. Jernigan (Ph.D.) and Pilot Rick Douglas Husband. Payette is with the Canadian Space Agency and Tokarev with the Russian Space Agency. The TCDT provides simulated countdown exercises, emergency egress training and opportunities to inspect the mission payloads in the orbiter's payload bay. STS-96, which is scheduled for liftoff on May 20 at 9:32 a.m., is a logistics and resupply mission for the International Space Station, carrying such payloads as a Russian crane, the Strela; a U.S.-built crane; the Spacehab Oceaneering Space System Box (SHOSS), a logistics items carrier; and STARSHINE, a student-led experiment