WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

On Launch Pad 39A, the STS-88 crew pose after successfully completing a pre-launch countdown exercise as part of Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. From left, they are Mission Specialist James H. Newman, Pilot Frederick W. "Rick" Sturckow, Mission Commander Robert D. Cabana, and Mission Specialists Nancy J. Currie, Ph.D., Jerry L. Ross and Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut. Mission STS-88 is targeted for launch on Dec. 3, 1998. It is the first U.S. flight for the assembly of the International Space Station and will carry the Unity connecting module. Unity will be mated with the already orbiting Russian-built Zarya control module. The 12-day mission includes three planned spacewalks to connect power, data and utility lines and install exterior equipment.