SPACEPHOTOS

(04/29/1997) --- STS-84 Mission Specialist C. Michael Foale, at center, exhibits great enthusiasm for the upcoming Space Shuttle mission to onlookers during the dress rehearsal of the crew’s walkout from the Operations and Checkout Building. He and the other six STS-84 crew members are participating in an abbreviated practice countdown to launch called the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT). In front of Foale is Mission Specialist Elena V. Kondakova, a Russian cosmonaut. Behind Foale, from left, are Mission Specialist Jean-Francois Clervoy, an astronaut with the European Space Agency; and U.S. astronauts and STS-84 Mission Specialists Edward Tsang Lu and Carlos I. Noriega. Already out of camera view are Pilot Eileen Marie Collins and Commander Charles J. Precourt. During the sixth ShuttleMir docking, Foale will take his place aboard the Russian Space Station Mir as a member of the Mir 23 crew, replacing U.S. astronaut Jerry M. Linenger, who will return to Earth on Atlantis. Launch of STS-84 is targeted for May 15