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control center takes part in this rehearsal of the 2 days leading up to lift-off. This is our only chance to walk through everything that's scheduled for launch day--without the unscheduled nerves. We stay at the crew quarters, listen to Shuttle status briefings, and try on our flight gear. The practice countdown helps immeasurably, and removes many of the remaining unknowns (like "where's the restroom on the launch tower?").

The Shuttle is like another world when it's on the launch pad. It's vertical, not horizontal--when we crawl in, we're crawling on the wall, not the floor. It's as if someone had nailed all your living room furniture to the floor, then turned the room on its side. It's very disorienting, and it's important to get over that disorientation before launch day.

During the last couple of months the astronauts work 12 to 14 hours a day, often 6 or 7 days a week. This peaks two weeks before flight, and the crew usually falls exhausted into the week of quarantine. During this week the astronauts are sequestered from everyone except "primary contacts"--family members, the training team, other astronauts, and key support personnel. This serves 2 purposes: it minimizes the astronauts' contact with germs, and (more importantly) it gives the astronauts a chance to relax, and to escape from the mounting pressures. 
"training" actually ends 3 or 4 days before the flight, with one last simulator session, and a final briefing with the