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12/09/06: STS-116: Discovery Begins Mission to the International Space Station.
Mission: STS-116 - 20th International Space Station Flight (12A.1) - P5 Truss Segment
The space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew lifted off Saturday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 8:47 p.m. EST on one of the most complex missions ever to the International Space Station. Shortly before launch, Discovery's Commander Mark Polansky said he and his crew were excited to continue assembly of the station, "We look forward to lighting up the night sky and rewiring ISS."
Like a shooting star flooding the night sky with its blazing light, Space Shuttle Discovery leaps toward the sky from Launch Pad 39B on mission STS-116. The launch occurred at 8:47:35 p.m. EST. This was the second launch attempt for mission STS-116. The first launch attempt on Dec. 7 was postponed due a low cloud ceiling over Kennedy Space Center. This is Discovery's 33rd mission and the first night launch since 2003. The 20th shuttle mission to the International Space Station, STS-116 carries another truss segment, P5. It will serve as a spacer, mated to the P4 truss that was attached in September. After installing the P5, the crew will reconfigure and redistribute the power generated by two pairs of U.S. solar arrays. Landing is expected Dec. 21 at KSC. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
From amid the smoke and steam, Space Shuttle Discovery leaps toward the sky past the lightning mast on Launch Pad 39B on mission STS-116. The launch occurred at 8:47:35 p.m. EST. Photo courtesy of Reuters/Larry Rubenstein and Peter Jones
The fiery liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery from Launch Pad 39B on mission STS-116 is captured in the nearby water. Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph, Robert Murray, Chris Lynch
At liftoff from Launch Pad 39B, Space Shuttle Discovery spreads a blaze of light as it leaps into the night sky. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton
After hearing of the successful liftoff, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria told Mission Control in Houston "We'll leave the light on," in anticipation of the space shuttle crew's arrival, now scheduled for Monday.
Low clouds delayed Discovery's launch on Thursday night. After standing down on Friday, weather was much better for Saturday's launch.
During the 12-day mission, designated STS-116, a new structural component will be added to the station. Shuttle and station crews will work with ground teams to install the P5 truss. This latest addition to the station's backbone weighs 4,000 pounds and will extend the left side of the truss to allow future solar panels to rotate.
The mission also includes extensive work to reconfigure the station's electrical and cooling systems from temporary to permanent mode. During the mission, ground control will shut down and reroute the station's power in stages so that the astronauts can reconfigure the power system and make the P4 solar arrays delivered during the last mission fully operational. This complex operation has never been done before. Part of an existing solar panel will be retracted to allow the P4 arrays to track the sun for a full 360 degrees and provide power to the rest of the station.
As part of these operations, the station's temporary cooling system will be deactivated and a permanent system will become operational.
The station's newest resident will also be traveling aboard Discovery. Astronaut Sunita Williams joins the Expedition 14 crew. Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut who has been aboard the station since July, will return to Earth with the Discovery crew. Williams is scheduled to spend six months on the station.
Discovery's crew is Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham, Nicholas Patrick, Williams and Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency astronaut.
- courtesy of: Jessica Rye/Katherine Trinidad, Kennedy Space Center, Fl,
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