STS-116: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:34, 16 December 2006

Revision as of 13:22, 16 December 2006

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'''[[STS-116]]''' is the current [[NASA]] [[Space Shuttle]] mission. The vehicle being used for this mission is the [[Space Shuttle Discovery|Space Shuttle ''Discovery'']]. Liftoff was originally scheduled for [[December 7]], [[2006]], but that attempt was canceled due to a low cloud ceiling. ''Discovery'' successfully lifted off during the second launch attempt on Saturday, [[December 9]] [[2006]] at 8:47:35pm EST. It is the first night launch of a Space Shuttle orbiter since [[STS-113]], which launched on November 23, 2002. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/061207_sts116_prelaunch.html |title=Night Launch: Shuttle Discovery Set for Evening Space Shot |accessdate=2006-12-10 |author= Ker Than|authorlink=http://www.livescience.com/blogs/author/kerthan |coauthors=Tarig Malik |date=[[2006-12-07]]| work = SPACE.com}}</ref> The main goals of the mission are delivery and attachment of the [[International Space Station]]'s (ISS) third port [[Integrated Truss Structure|truss]] segment (the P5 truss), major rewiring of the station's power system, and exchange of ISS [[Expedition 14]] personnel.

STS-116 marks the 1,000th time a human has ever crossed the 100km100 km [[Karman line|boundary of space]] when counting individual missions by astronauts.<ref>According to statistics kept by the ''Cité de l'Espace'' in Toulouse (France), as mentioned in ''le Monde'' of 8-Dec-2006 http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/0,14-0,39-29071378@7-37,0.html </ref>

STS-116 was also the final scheduled [[Space Shuttle]] flight to be launched from [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|Pad 39B]] as NASA reconfigures it for the [[Ares I|Ares 1]].<ref name="pad39b">{{cite web| url = http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/164266main_2nd_exp_conf_05_DevelopmentAndOperation_DrSHorowitz.pdf| title = Development and operation

| accessdate = 2006-12-12| author = Scott "Doc" Horowitz}}</ref> The only remaining use of Pad 39B by Shuttles is as a reserve for a potential [[STS-3xx]] rescue mission for [[STS-125]], the final [[Hubble Space Telescope]] servicing mission. <ref>{{cite news | first = Chris | last = Bergin | title = NASA details Ares launch pad timeline | url = http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=4913 | work = nasaspaceflight.com | date = 2006-11-19 | accessdate = 2006-12-12}}</ref>