KSC-98pc1746

At Launch Pad 39A, STS-88 Pilot Frederick W. "Rick" Sturckow (at left) and Commander Robert D. Cabana look over the Unity connecting module and its two attached pressurized mating adapters. Unity is in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, awaiting liftoff of Mission STS-88. Cabana, Sturckow and the other four members of the STS-88 crew arrived at KSC in the early morning hours of Nov. 30 for prelaunch preparations. The other crew members are Mission Specialists Nancy J. Currie, James H. Newman and Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut. The scheduled liftoff is at 3:56 a.m. on Dec. 3. Unity is the primary payload of the mission, which is the first U.S. launch for the International Space Station. The crew will be mating Unity with the Russian-built Zarya control module already in orbit. In addition to Unity, Endeavour will carry two small replacement electronics boxes for possible repairs to Zarya batteries. The mission is scheduled to last nearly 12 days