Much of an astronaut's training is 'just in case' emergency training which everybody hopes will never be needed. The astronauts wear their orange launch and entry suits and practice exiting the shuttle on their own in case they have to leave the shuttle quickly on the launch pad or after an emergency landing, or in a worst case scenario jump out of the shuttle while it's gliding. They would land in the ocean on personal parachutes and inflate their own personal life-rafts and wait for rescue personnel to pick them up.
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The Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) replicates the activities the crew goes through on launch day, plus emergency escape training activities. The TCDT ends with a simulated engine shutdown with the crew going through the steps to shut down the shuttle's systems to ensure that everything's safe.
The shuttle's crew cabin is 195 feet above the surface of the launch pad. Normally everybody uses an elevator. There's an extremely rapid way to leave the pad if there's a serious emergency - a group of slidewire baskets. Each basket holds up to three astronauts and gravity quickly takes the occupants down to the surface and away from the pad. The slidewire ride ends with a set of nets and chains to slow down the baskets. One astronaut described the slidewire system as 'probably the second most exciting way to leave the launch pad' (first being launch of course).
At the base of the slidewire area is an emergency shelter-bunker and an M113 armored personnel carrier. The astronauts can choose to enter the bunker or go into the M113. The bunker includes oxygen masks, emergency supplies, and a phone to talk to the launch control center.
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