A side opening on the mid-deck of a space shuttle that allows the crew to escape in an emergency during the controlled gliding phase of landing. The side hatch is jettisoned by pyrotechnics and the crew manually deploy an escape pole that goes through and down from the opening. Each crew member attaches his or her parachute harness to a lanyard hook assembly surrounding the pole and leaves through the ingress–egress side hatch, sliding down and off the pole on a trajectory leading below the shuttle's left wing.