STS-116

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This article documents a current spaceflight. Information may change rapidly as the mission progresses.

All times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), unless otherwise noted.

STS-116

Mission insignia
Mission statistics
Mission name:	STS-116
Shuttle:	Discovery
Number of crew members:	7
Launch pad:	39-B
Launch:	2006-12-09 20:47:35 EST (2006-12-10 01:47:35 UTC)
Landing:	2006-12-21 16:17 EST
Duration:	12 Days
Orbit altitude:	122 nautical miles (225 km)
Orbit inclination:	51.6 degrees
Distance traveled:	TBD
Crew photo
Back (L–R): Curbeam, Patrick, Williams, Fuglesang Front (L–R): Oefelein, Higginbotham, Polansky
Navigation
Previous mission Next mission STS-115 STS-117

STS-116 is the current NASA Space Shuttle mission. The vehicle being used for this mission is the 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. ^[1] The main goals of the mission are delivery and attachment of the International Space Station's (ISS) third port 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 100 km boundary of space when counting individual missions by astronauts.^[2] STS-116 was also the final scheduled Space Shuttle flight to be launched from Pad 39B as NASA reconfigures it for the Ares 1.^[3] 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. ^[4]

[edit] Crew

As one of the main goals of STS-116 is to exchange ISS Expedition 14 crew members, the crew of STS-116 will change mid-flight. ISS Flight Engineer Sunita "Suni" Williams will be part of the STS-116 crew for the first portion of the mission. She will then replace ISS Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter on the Expedition 14 crew and Reiter will join the STS-116 crew for the return to Earth.

• Mark Polansky (2) - Commander
• William Oefelein (1) - Pilot
• Nicholas Patrick (1) - Mission specialist 1
• Robert Curbeam (3) - Mission specialist 2
• Christer Fuglesang (1) - Mission specialist 3 - ESA Sweden
• Joan Higginbotham (1) - Mission specialist 4

Launching ISS Expedition 14 crew

• Sunita "Suni" Williams (1) - ISS Flight Engineer

Landing ISS Expedition 14 crew

• Thomas Reiter (2) - ISS Flight Engineer - ESA Germany

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.

[edit] Mission highlights

A computer rendering of the ISS after STS-116 with the new P5 truss segment

• The STS-116 mission will deliver and attach the International Space Station's third port truss segment, the P5 truss.
• The STS-116 mission brought to the Station Expedition 14 crew member Sunita Williams and will bring home Expedition 14 crew member Thomas Reiter from European Space Agency (launched by STS-121).
• Christer Fuglesang is Sweden's first astronaut. His flight is a rare occurrence of two ESA astronauts flying in space together.
• The third of three SPHERES testbeds will launch to the ISS.
• Astronauts completed major rewiring of the ISS's electrical system in order to bring online the P3/P4 solar array installed by STS-115 in September.
• Additional rewiring was done to ISS Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA2) to enable Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) commencing with STS-118.^[5][6]
• One half of the original P6 solar array installed by STS-97 was folded to make room for the new P4 array deployed by STS-115 to rotate to track the sun.
• STS-116 was the last STS mission scheduled for launch from pad 39B. The pad will be refitted for upcoming Ares I launches. ^[3]
• The crew of STS-116 consists of five rookie astronauts. Only Mission Commander Mark Polansky (2) and Mission specialist Robert Curbeam (3) had previously flown in space.

[edit] Mission payloads

In the Space Station Processing Facility, an overhead crane moves the P5 truss for mission STS-116 to the payload canister.

The primary payload for the STS-116 mission is the P5 Truss segment of the International Space Station. The shuttle also carries a Spacehab Logistics Module to resupply the ISS, as well as four satellites, which will be deployed after undocking from the ISS: the ANDE technology demonstrator, developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, and three CubeSats (RAFT-1 and MARScom for the United States Naval Academy, and MEPSI 2A/2B for DARPA). It will be the first Shuttle mission to deploy satellites since STS-113 in 2002.

[edit] Mission background

STS-116 was planned (post return-to-flight) to launch on 2006-12-14. But on November 29 NASA announced that the launch team had been asked to aim for a launch on December 7 rather than the original target date of Dec. 14. The launch window for the STS-116 mission opened on December 7 and extended through December 17. The seven-member flight crew arrived for launch at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility on December 3 in the afternoon.^[7] Primary payloads on the 12-day mission are the P5 integrated truss segment, SPACEHAB single logistics module, and an integrated cargo carrier. The STS-116 mission is the 20th flight to the station.

Launch on the new, earlier date required a night-time launch. Subsequent to the Columbia disaster, NASA had imposed rules requiring shuttle launches to be conducted during the day, when light would be sufficient for cameras to observe falling debris. With the redesign of shuttle tank foam having minimized the amount of falling debris and the availability of in-orbit inspection procedures, the daylight-launch requirement was relaxed.^[8]

Discovery on its way to Launchpad 39B during rollout.

Rollover of Discovery to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) occurred on October 31, and on November 1 the orbiter was raised into a vertical orientation and moved into High Bay 3 to be mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters. Rollout to Launch Complex 39B was completed on Thursday 2006-11-09.

The seven-member crew for the mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center on November 13 to begin their final four-day prelaunch training for the mission, which included familiarization activities, rehearsal of emergency procedures and practice on NASA's Shuttle Training Aircraft, along with a simulated countdown, which took place on the morning of November 16. The astronauts then traveled to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and returned to Kennedy Space Center on December 3, four days before the planned launch date.

Discovery's payload bay, containing the SPACEHAB module and ISS P5 Truss.

The payloads for the mission, including a SPACEHAB module and the P5 truss, were loaded from the payload canister into Discovery's payload bay on 16 November, and, with the sealing of the payload bay doors, all that remained was to fill the external fuel tank before the Discovery shuttle stack was in full launch configuration. With the completion of the Flight Readiness Review over November 28-29 (which evaluated all activities and elements necessary for the safe and successful performance of the shuttle during the mission, including the Orbiter itself, the payload and flight crew), Discovery was given her Certificate of Flight Readiness, the launch date was officially set to December 7, and the mission officially given the "Go" for launch.

[edit] Mission timeline

[edit] December 7 (Launch attempt 1)

Following the completion of the pre-launch preparations, all eyes were on the Florida skies, due to a forecasted low cloud ceiling for the night of the launch. The mission's seven astronauts were loaded into Discovery ready for the scheduled launch at 09:37pm EST, with hopes high for a break in the clouds, but as the scheduled launch time approached it became apparent that the cloud would not break, and the launch attempt was scrubbed, with the next attempt scheduled for December 9.^[9] Prior to the initial attempt on December 7, NASA had determined that they would not attempt a launch on Friday because of the cold front moving in that eventually scrubbed Thursday's launch attempt. No-go possibilities for Saturday included crosswinds and lower cloud ceiling.

[edit] December 9 (Flight day 1 - Launch)

Discovery at liftoff

NASA TV screenshot from camera mounted on the external tank at about 1 minute to Main Engines Cut-Off (MECO). Launch occurred at night, giving an incredible view from the darkness.

The external rocket boosters being retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean after the takeoff of STS-116.

Discovery lifted off successfully at 20:47 EST (01:47 UTC), lighting up much of the eastern seaboard. Weather conditions - in particular crosswinds at the launch and landing sites - continued to trend positively in the hours approaching the launch window Saturday night. The fueling process for Discovery's external tanks began at 12:46 EST (17:46 UTC) and was completed at approximately 15:45 EST (20:45 UTC). If a transatlantic abort landing (TAL) had been required during ascent, the shuttle had three possible landing sites: Zaragoza or Morón Air Base in Spain, or Istres, France. ^[10]

The launch was the third shuttle mission in five months, being preceded by STS-121 in July and STS-115 in September, and was the first night launch in four years since STS-113 and first night launch following the Columbia accident during STS-107.

[edit] December 10 (Flight day 2)

Flight day 2 began for the astronauts at 15:47 UTC. The first order of business for the day was a thorough inspection of the Shuttle. Using sensors and cameras attached to a fifty-foot boom, which was in turn connected to a fifty-foot robotic arm, Nicholas Patrick inspected the leading edge of the wings and the nose cap. The process, which took five and a half hours, suffered a minor glitch that required Patrick to order the arm to manually grab the boom. During this time, the crew also inspected the upper surface of the orbiter. ^[11] Astronauts also completed a check of the spacesuits to be used during the mission, along with preparation for docking with the International Space Station.

As seen through windows on the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle Discovery, the payload bay is featured in this image photographed by a STS-116 Crewmember during flight day three activities. Pictured in the payload bay is the shuttle's docking mechanism (foreground), Spacehab module (partially obscured), the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) robotic arm (right), and the Remote Manipulator System/Orbiter Boom Sensor System (left, in stowed position).

[edit] December 11 (Flight day 3 - Docking to ISS)

Flight day 3 began for the astronauts at 15:18 UTC. Following the rendezvous pitch maneuver, docking to the International Space Station occurred at 22:12 UTC. The hatch between the International Space Station and Discovery was opened at 23:54 UTC. ^[12] The joint ISS/Shuttle crew then worked to undertake some further detailed inspection of the orbiter and unloaded the P5 truss segment from the payload bay, handing it off successfully from the shuttle robotic arm to the station arm. The astronauts scheduled for Day 4's EVA, Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, ended their day by entering the airlock for a "campout" sleep session to prepare for the EVA by purging their bodies of nitrogen in a lower-pressure environment.^[13] Such a practice is common in order for the astronauts to avoid getting decompression sickness.

[edit] December 12 (Flight day 4 - EVA #1)

Flight day 4 began for the astronauts at 15:47 UTC. ^[14] During the first EVA of the mission, the astronauts of STS-116 brought the ISS one step closer to completion with the addition of the P5 truss segment.

The EVA began at 20:31 UTC, with Curbeam and Fuglesang removing launch restraints from the P5 truss and Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham making use of the station's robotic arm (the Canadarm2) to move the truss segment to within inches of its new position on the P4 truss. The spacewalkers then guided Higginbotham with visual cues as the precise operation to finalize the attachment of the truss was completed. ^[15]

Whilst flying over New Zealand, Robert L. Curbeam, Jr. and Christer Fuglesang participate in the mission's first spacewalk.

After the P5’s attachment, Curbeam and Fuglesang finalised the installation with power, data and heater cable connections. They also replaced a faulty video camera attached to the S1 truss. Since they worked ahead of the time-line, the two astronauts were also able to complete some get-ahead tasks.

At the end of the spacewalk, Curbeam congratulated the Nobel Prize winners, including scientist Dr. John C. Mather at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ^[15] Mather was honored for his work on the big-bang theory. Christer Fuglesang also held a small speech in Swedish, encouraging Swedes and others to aspire to become future astronauts. The EVA concluded at 03:07 UTC on the morning of December 13, and lasted for 6 hours and 36 minutes in total.^[15]

During the spacewalk, after taking a close look at imagery gathered on the first three days of the flight, mission managers determined that the shuttle’s heat shield can support a safe return to Earth. They also decided a more detailed inspection that had been scheduled for later in the mission will not be necessary.

Two more spacewalks are scheduled for the mission in order to reconfigure and redistribute power on the station, so that the solar arrays installed during STS-115 can be used. The first step of reconfiguring the power will take place Wednesday when the port solar array on the P6 truss will be retracted, which will allow the activation and rotation of the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint on the P4. The rotary joint will allow the solar arrays on the P4 to track the sun.

STS-116’s second spacewalk took place Thursday and the third is set to take place on Saturday. The astronauts were required to spend the night sleeping in protected areas in order to avoid radiation from a solar flare eruption. ^[16]

[edit] December 13 (Flight day 5 - Solar Array Reorganization)

Flight day 5 began for the astronauts at 15:21 UTC.^[17] The most high-profile activity was the attempted retraction of the P6 port-side solar array. The process began at 18:28 UTC, but problems with the array folding due to 'kinks' and 'billows' led the controllers to redeploy the array (from about 40% retracted). There then followed a series of more than 40 commands to furl and unfurl the arrays in an effort to get them properly aligned and folded.

This digital still image was taken by a crew member aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery of a kink that occurred in the port-side P6 solar array during the first attempt to retract that array on December 13. The crew later extended the array and cleared this kink. The slow retraction of the array was then begun again with similar retraction and extension cycles repeated as the day progressed.

At 00:50 UTC, the retraction efforts were abandoned for the day. The problems, which appear to have been caused by a loss of tension in the solar array guide wires,^[18] had still not been solved, although 14 of the 31 bays on the array had been retracted (leaving 17 bays extended). This was enough to leave the port side arrays in a safe position to commence the activation of the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) at 01:00 UTC, allowing the solar arrays on the P3/P4 truss to rotate to follow the sun. ^[19]

[edit] December 14 (Flight day 6 - EVA #2)

Flight day 6 began for the astronauts at 15:19 UTC. The day's primary activity, EVA #2, began rewiring work to bring the station's permanent electrical power systems into use. To allow this changeover, station controllers had to power down about half the systems on the ISS. The EVA started at 19:41 UTC with Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang exiting the Quest airlock, 30 minutes early. EVA #2 was planned to activate channels 2 and 3 of the four-channel electrical system, and the work progressed smoothly. About two hours into the spacewalk the first current was flowing through the reconfigured system, using the power from the P4 solar arrays for the first time. The EVA was completed in exactly 5 hours, finishing at 00:41 UTC.^[20]

[edit] December 15 (Flight day 7)

Flight day 7 was a light work day for the crews of Discovery and the ISS after the previous days' activities. Spacewalkers Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang enjoyed some R&R, while the rest of the crew performed cleanup and preparatory tasks for Flight day 8's planned EVA #3. The traditional joint photo session and joint news conference were held by the crews.^[21]During this event Swedish first time astronaut Christer Fuglesang got intervied by the royal Crown Princess Victoria and also set a 20 second frisbee world record in space, broadcasted live on swedish tv.^{[22] [23]}

In an attempt to free a stuck solar panel, Thomas Reiter exercised vigorously on a machine which is known to cause oscillations in the solar arrays; it was not successful. Mission controllers continue to look at other solutions to the solar panel folding problem so as to enable complete retraction, including an extended or additional EVA.^[24]

[edit] Contingency planning

Main article: STS-3xx

[edit] STS-301

STS-301 was the designation given to the Contingency Shuttle Crew Support mission which would have been launched in the event Space Shuttle Atlantis had become disabled during STS-115. It was a modified version of the STS-116 mission, which would have involved the launch date being brought forward. If needed, it would have launched no earlier than November 11, 2006. The crew for this mission was a four-person subset of the full STS-116 crew:

• Mark Polansky - Commander and prime Remote Manipulator System (RMS) operator
• William Oefelein - Pilot and backup RMS operator
• Robert Curbeam - Mission specialist 1, Extravehicular 1
• Nicholas Patrick - Mission specialist 2, Extravehicular 2

[edit] STS-317

In the event the Discovery suffers irreparable damage while in orbit during STS-116, the crew will take refuge at the ISS and wait for a Contingency Shuttle Crew Support mission to launch. The mission would be STS-317 and would be flown by the Space Shuttle Atlantis no earlier than February 21, 2007. The crew for this rescue mission would be a subset of the full STS-117 crew.

[edit] Wake-up calls

What has become a tradition for NASA spaceflights since the days of Gemini, the crew of STS-116 is played a special musical track at the start of each day in space. Each track is specially chosen and often has a particular meaning to an individual member of the crew, or it is somehow applicable to their situation.

• Day 2: Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles; played for Commander Mark Polansky. MP3 WAV
• Day 3: Beep Beep by Louis Prima; played for Sunita Williams. MP3 WAV
• Day 4: Waterloo by ABBA; played for Christer Fuglesang. MP3 WAV
• Day 5: Suavemente by Elvis Crespo; played for Joan Higginbotham. MP3 WAV
• Day 6: Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie; played for Robert Curbeam. MP3 WAV
• Day 7: Low Rider by War; played for William Oefelein. MP3 WAV

[edit] Mission parameters

• Mass: 1,647,000 lbs (750 tonnes) at launch, 242,000 lbs (110 tonnes) at landing ^{[citation needed]}
• Perigee: TBD
• Apogee: TBD
• Inclination: 51.6° ^[25]
• Period: 91.6 minutes ^[25]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

Wikinews has news related to:

Discovery launches on STS-116

• Space science
• Space Shuttle
• List of space shuttle missions
• List of human spaceflights chronologically
• 2006 in spaceflight

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: STS-116

• Mission Status Center - SpaceFlightNow: Up to the minute blog on the mission
• STS-116 mission overview - NASA's website
• STS-116 Press Kit PDF
• Space Shuttle main page at NASA
• STS-116 Blog - A regularly updated blog reporting on the missions events as well as video clips of mission events

[edit] Videos

• STS-116 Launch Video: NASA VIDEO KSC-06-S-00251, captioned in English
• NASA Videos for STS-116
• STS-116 Launch Video View From Cape Canaveral South Bridge -Weathervine Video

	v • d • e  Manned spaceflights to the International Space Station
	STS-88 | STS-96 | STS-101 | STS-106 | STS-92 | Soyuz TM-31 | STS-97 | STS-98 | STS-102 | STS-100 | Soyuz TM-32 | STS-104 | STS-105 | Soyuz TM-33 | STS-108 | STS-110 | Soyuz TM-34 | STS-111 | STS-112 | Soyuz TMA-1 | STS-113 | Soyuz TMA-2 | Soyuz TMA-3 | Soyuz TMA-4 | Soyuz TMA-5 | Soyuz TMA-6 | STS-114 | Soyuz TMA-7 | Soyuz TMA-8 | STS-121 | STS-115
In progress: Soyuz TMA-9 | STS-116
Upcoming: STS-117 | Soyuz TMA-10 | STS-118 | STS-120