[sarex] ISS STATUS REPORT- DECEMBER 8TH,2006

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

LATEST NEWS


Poor Weather Delays Shuttle Launch Until Saturday

ISS014-E-08320 : Expedition 14 crew dining Image above: Commander 
Michael Lopez-Alegria (right) and Flight Engineers Thomas Reiter and 
Mikhail Tyurin share a meal at the galley in the Zvezda Service Module 
of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA
TO VIEW PICTURE GO 
TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.htm


The arrival of Space Shuttle Discovery and the STS-116 crew has been 
delayed two days. An unfavorable weather forecast at Kennedy Space 
Center in Florida forced mission managers to pass on Thursday’s launch 
attempt. Discovery is now slated to lift off at 8:47 p.m. EST Saturday 
and dock with the orbital outpost on Monday.

The STS-116 crew will deliver the P5 truss segment and conduct three 
spacewalks to install it and reconfigure and redistribute the power 
generated by the station’s U.S. solar arrays. The STS-116 crew’s 
weeklong stay will also feature the first station crew rotation during a 
shuttle mission in four years. NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams will join 
the Expedition 14 crew and European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter 
will return to Earth on Discovery.

For the latest news and information on STS-116, visit the main shuttle 
page. + Read more

+ Read more about Expedition 14
+ View crew's daily timelines

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and 
two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as 
Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel 
to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor 
Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting 
laboratory.

+ Read more about Expedition 15