BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[glenn]](/editions/1998/10/10/glenn_150x175.jpg)
Sen. John Glenn, center; Curt Brown, front, and Pedro Duque at Kennedy Space Center.
(Michael E. Keating photo)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Next step for John Glenn: orbit.
The final day of dress rehearsal for the Oct. 29 launch of the space shuttle Discovery started well before sunrise and ended Friday afternoon with excitement as the crew practiced their final countdown and emergency escape procedures.
The early morning "walk out" was a sequel to The Right Stuff movie, based on the experiences of Mr. Glenn and the other original Mercury astronauts. Clad in orange space suits weighing more than 100 pounds each, the 77-year-old senator and his crewmates drew cheers from NASA employees as photographers snapped away under the watchful eye of guards armed with automatic weapons.
Later Mr. Glenn did just fine in a practice escape drill at scrambling out of the shuttle hatch, crossing the access arm and climbing into an escape basket. It took less than three minutes for the shuttle crew to make their escape, which NASA officials described as "well within our time frame."
The escape practice occurred at T-minus 3 seconds in a 22-hour simulated countdown that started Thursday. After a quick debriefing, the crew members flew off in their T-38 training jets, headed back to Houston for three more weeks of simulation training before the launch.
When STS-95 lifts off for real, the man who in 1962 was the first American to orbit the Earth will become the oldest man in space. The eight-day, 22-hour mission will involve five major objectives: launching a Spartan free-flyer to study the sun; dozens of life science and microgravity experiments in the Spacehab module; testing equipment to be used later to repair the Hubble Space Telescope; a series of experiments called the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker; and Mr. Glenn's experiments studying space flight and aging.
The flight promises to be the biggest NASA event since the first shuttle launch after the Challenger disaster in 1986. About 300,000 are expected to pack popular viewing areas while NASA scrambles to accommodate more than 2,500 reporters and photographers who have requested media credentials.
Florida media are calling the predicted crush of people "Hurricane Glenn."
On Friday, the countdown practice started at 4 a.m. with testing of the Discovery's pyrotechnic initiator controllers, simulating pressurization of the shuttle's helium tank and other equipment checks. The flight crew entered the shuttle about 8:15 a.m. After even more fuel cell checks, communication checks and leak checks, the crew closed their helmet visors at T-minus 9 minutes.
At T-minus 6.6 seconds, the main engines were supposed to start. But in this test something goes wrong. At T-minus 3 seconds, crew commander Curtis Brown ordered a main engine shutdown. When it became clear that the problem could not be contained, he declared a "Mode One Egress."
It's an emergency procedure that the crew hopes they never have to use but they practice anyway.
The next step for the shuttle flight comes Tuesday, when NASA managers and contractors meet to determine whether everything is ready for the Oct. 29 launch date.
Glenn hero to tourists and souvenir sellers
![[glenn]](/editions/1998/10/10/glenn_471x550.jpg)