T-20 Minutes and Holding

Primary Event Description	Date Eastern Standard Time
Enter 10 minute hold period	December 5, 2001 4:04 P.M.

è	NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding requests members of his team to verify that the proper software has been loaded for the remainder of the countdown.
è	Pre-flight Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) alignment is completed and verified.
è	The Landing and Recovery Director verifies that the Shuttle landing site is ready and configured for launch and that the booster recovery ships are on station.

Did You Know?	During this hold period, the NASA Test Director briefs the launch team on recycle options during the remainder of the countdown. From this point through T-31 seconds, any console operator can request a countdown hold if a problem is detected. After T-31 seconds, however, any unplanned hold would result in an automatic suspension of the countdown and a recycling of the countdown clock back to the T-20 minute mark.

Did You Know?	The International Space Station (ISS) will be a large, hospitable, permanent human outpost in space. Its size equals the interior space of three 747 aircraft and weighs more than a million pounds. In addition to providing facilities where an international crew of seven astronaut-scientists can live and work in space, it will provide important laboratory research facilities for performing basic research in life sciences, biomedical and material sciences, as well as space and engineering technology development which cannot be accomplished on Earth.

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