go_topes - STS-116 Launch Date Set

go_topes - STS-116 Launch Date Set

go_topes

STS-116 Launch Date Set	[Nov. 30th, 2006\|10:38 pm]
Mission managers completed their Flight Readiness Review for STS-116 (Discovery) on Wednesday and decided to set the first launch attempt for December 7th at about 7:35 PM EST. The specific launch time within a short launch window required for rendezvous with the ISS will be determined on launch day. The launch will be the first Shuttle night launch in over four years. In addition to cameras on the SRB, radar will be looking for debris during launch and there will be the normal on-orbit inspection of Discovery's Thermal Protection System (TPS). STS-116 will be bringing up the P5 spacer segment of the ISS truss, taking Expedition 14 member Sunita Williams to the ISS and bringing Expedition 13 Thomas Reiter home, and carry out some spacewalks to do some rewiring of the station. Atlantis is currently being prepared as the shuttle to use for Launch On Need (LON) in case of problems that will not allow Discovery to reenter safely. If LON is needed, the launch would occur about February 21st and the Discovery astronauts would take safe haven aboard the ISS until Atlantis' launch. The crew for STS-116: William A. Oefelein, pilot; Mark L. Polansky, commander; and mission specialists Joan Higginbotham, Robert L. Curbeam, Nicholas J.M. Patrick, Sunita L. Williams and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang.
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