Practice Countdown Under Way

Practice Countdown Under Way
The seven astronauts who will board Discovery in a few weeks to ride into space are rehearsing launch day today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They will run through all the steps including strapping into Discovery’s cockpit and middeck, and radio checks. The practice, known as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, will conclude just before the engines would ignite during a real countdown. Once the work is complete, the crew will return to Houston this afternoon.