NASA Shuttle crew begins final preparations - Discovery STS-116 12-day ride, Thu. 12/7 935pm EST

AP on Yahoo ^ | 12/4/06 | Mike Schneider - ap

[NormsRevenge]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Discovery's seven astronauts arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Sunday for a final stretch of training and preparations before they are launched on a 12-day mission to rewire the international space station.

Liftoff was set for Thursday at 9:35 p.m. EST. It will be the first night launch in four years.

"We're going to go ahead and hopefully have one heck of a night show to give everybody this Thursday night," Mark Polansky, Discovery's commander, said after he and his crew arrived from Houston aboard five training jets.

Polansky and pilot William Oefelein will spend the next several days practicing landings in a shuttle-training aircraft, and other crew members will study up on their mission tasks. The countdown clock was set to begin ticking Monday night.

Discovery's astronauts will rewire the space station, bring up an $11 million addition and drop off astronaut Sunita Williams for a six-month stay at the space lab. German astronaut Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency, who has been living at the space station since July, will take Williams' place aboard Discovery for the trip back to Earth.

"I just can't wait to get to my new home," Williams said Sunday.

NASA has required daylight liftoffs ever since the 2003 Columbia accident to make sure the agency could get good daytime photos of the external fuel tank in case debris fell from it during launch. Foam breaking off the tank and striking Columbia's wing at liftoff caused the damage which led to the disaster that killed seven astronauts.

Comforted by the acceptable levels of foam loss during the last two liftoffs, NASA officials now believe radar is sufficient to spot pieces falling from Discovery's tank, and that the illumination from the solid rocket boosters will provide enough light to take images during the first two minutes of liftoff. Plus there are inspections in orbit to spot any unseen damage.

The crew includes mission specialists Joan Higginbotham; Nicholas Patrick; lead spacewalker Bob Curbeam; and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang, who will become the first Swede in space.

"I'm not going to wipe this grin off my face until December 19th, when we land," said Higginbotham, referring to the landing date if everything goes on schedule. "And then, I'm sure I'll still have a hard time wiping it off my face."

[NormsRevenge]

STS-116 crew members, from left, Pilot William Oefelein, European Space Agency Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang, of Sweden, Commander Mark Polansky, Mission Specialist Robert Curbeam, British born U.S. Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick, Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham, and Mission Specialist Sunita Williams, walk across the tarmac after arriving Sunday afternoon Dec. 3, 2006 at the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle landing facility in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The seven members STS-116 crew is making final preparations for Thursday night's planned liftoff on the space shuttle Discovery.(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

[NormsRevenge]

Night launch

[NormsRevenge]

Space Shuttle Discovery nears launch pad 39b at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canveral, Fla.,Nov. 9, 2006.Parts of the space station will be powered down during Discovery's visit in early December, as astronauts reconnect the space lab's electrical system to a permanent power source. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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Space Shuttle Discovery begins it's journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39b at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canveral, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006. Parts of the space station will be powered down during Discovery's visit in early December, as astronauts reconnect the space lab's electrical system to a permanent power source.(AP Photo/John Raoux)

[Mr. K]

hmmm I wonder if its too late to get plan e tickets to go see one...

[cripplecreek]

hmmm I wonder if its too late to get plan e tickets to go see one...

Plan F or G should be just fine. (sorry, couldn't help myself)

[Jake The Goose]

Yep - time to deliver the groceries and pick up the trash.

Call me when they go up there to do something of real value.

Like - fix the Hubble - now that at least has value.

[NormsRevenge]

I need to go to Best Buy or Circuit City and check out large plasma TVs on Thursday night.

A night launch on a 60 inch HD plasma TV must be pretty impressive.

[NormsRevenge]

Save the Hubble. I agree. 2007 or 2008 at the latest I would think , or hope for. after that , foregt about it.. that would be a shame to see such a marvelous piece of technology 86ed into the atmosphere

All the parts to be installed are ready and waiting or can be made so pretty quickly.

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

One of my cousin's best friends is the Pilot William Oefelein. I am flying to Orlando tonight to stay with Him, his wife, and another cousin, and his wife, in Cape Canaveral, and watch the launch Thursday night. I hope the weather holds up, and there are no delays, because I'm coming home Friday. Should be spectacular.

[RightWhale]

Make this the LIVE THREAD if possible.

[RightWhale]

A Hubble mission was just recently scheduled.

[RightWhale]

spaceflightnow.com

MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2006
1255 GMT (7:55 a.m. EST)

The weather outlook for Thursday night's launch looks pretty, meteorologists reported this morning. There is just a 20 percent chance of low clouds causing a scrub. But the forecast worsens significantly for Friday and Saturday nights.

[advertising guy]

congrats on your opportunity. Good on ya

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

What are the odds they will actually launch on Thursday?

[MamaB]

You do not know what you are talking about. Our company has an experiment going up and will stay in space for about a year. I would tell you what it is but I do not understand it. All I know is that it is very important for future space vehicles. Without this testing, there might not be any future travel.

[RightWhale]

The Hubble repair mission is already scheduled.
The STS-116 mission, the topic of this thread, is the most complicated and difficult Shuttle mission so far.

[Diamond]

...as astronauts reconnect the space lab's electrical system to a permanent power source.

What do they plug it into?

Cordially,

[ASOC]

The pilot is from Alaska -

Wow, talk about the ultimate Bush Pilot.....take off heavy, land light.

May the good Lord watch over this crew and the ship they ride upon.

I know we will be watching from here, lots of local coverage planned.

[RightWhale]

Remember those huge solar panels they sent up earlier? They are needing to be connected to ships electric. This will be difficulty rating 5.9 out of 6.0

[NormsRevenge]

weather.com Occasional showers in the forecast about then..
http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USFL0066?from=_topnav_undeclared

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wunderground has it as partly cloudy
http://www.wunderground.com/US/FL/Cape_Canaveral.html

fingers crossed.


a few clouds actually make the night launch cooler, imo. ;-)