KSC-97EC-1721 - STS-89 M.S. Dunbar, Sharipov and Pilot Edwards during CEIT 


Several STS-89 crew members participate in the Crew Equipment
Interface Test (CEIT) inside the SPACEHAB module at the SPACEHAB
Payload Processing Facility at Port Canaveral in preparation for the
mission, slated to be the first Shuttle launch of 1998. From left to
right are Mission Specialists Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., and Salizhan
Sharipov of the Russian Space Agency, and Pilot Joe Edwards. The CEIT
gives astronauts an opportunity to get a hands-on look at the payloads
with which they will be working on-orbit. STS-89 will be the eighth of
nine scheduled Mir dockings and will include a double module of
SPACEHAB, used mainly as a large pressurized cargo container for
science, logistical equipment and supplies to be exchanged between the
orbiter Endeavour and the Russian Space Station Mir.  The nine-day
flight of STS-89 also is scheduled to include the transfer of the
seventh American to live and work aboard the Russian orbiting
outpost. Liftoff of Endeavour and its seven-member crew is targeted
for Jan. 15, 1998, at 1:03 a.m. EST from Launch Pad 39A.

 
                                               10/27/97