The Nation - News from Feb. 6, 1989
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The crew of the shuttle Discovery flew to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center for a practice countdown amid work to remove the first of three suspect engine turbo- pumps that must be replaced before a delayed blastoff in March. Discovery’s crew--commander Michael Coats, 43; co-pilot John Blaha, 46; James Bagian, 36; Robert Springer, 46, and James Buchli, 43--flew to the spaceport to participate in a dress-rehearsal countdown scheduled to end Tuesday with a simulated engine ignition. Engineers working in Discovery’s engine compartment were disconnecting a high-pressure liquid oxygen turbopump from the shuttle’s three main engines.
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