[sarex] LAUNCH COVERAGE 12-06-06

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

LAUNCH COVERAGE
    
     
     Space Shuttle Mission STS-116

Orbiter: Discovery
Mission: Space Station Assembly Building 12A.1
Payload: P5 Integrated Truss Segment
Launch Date: Dec. 7, 2006
Launch Time: 9:35 p.m. EST
Launch Pad: 39B
Landing Date: Dec. 19, 2006
Landing Time: 4:35 p.m. EST
Mission Duration: 12 days

Launch Remains on Target for Thursday

Commander Mark Polansky tries on his launch and entry suit. Image above: 
Commander Mark Polansky tries on his orange launch and entry suit during 
a fit check at Kennedy Space Center three days before launch. Credit: 
NASA/Kim Shiflett
+ View Larger Image(SEE 
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html)

Liftoff remains targeted for 9:35 p.m. Thursday -- the midpoint of a 
10-minute window. However, an approaching cold front is expected to 
bring a blanket of cloud cover to the area Thursday, so the forecast 
calls for a 60 percent chance of weather prohibiting launch.

Other than weather, there are no other issues expected to affect the 
launch time. Final preparations at Launch Pad 39B are on schedule and 
going well, and Space Shuttle Discovery and the STS-116 payloads are in 
good shape for flight.

Led by Commander Mark Polansky, the seven crew members arrived at 
Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday afternoon. On Tuesday, they 
had breakfast with their families, and while Polansky and Pilot Bill 
Oefelein spent part of Tuesday evening flying the Shuttle Training 
Aircraft, Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham, 
Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang and Sunita Williams checked the fit 
of their orange launch and entry suits.

The Launch Team
Learn more about the NASA team that's responsible for the events that 
lead up to the liftoff of mission STS-116.
+ Meet the Launch Team