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| Image above: Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach
(left) greets STS-116 Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham, Mission
Specialist Robert Curbeam and Commander Mark Polansky after their
arrival at Kennedy Space Center. Image Credit: NASA/KSC |
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Discovery all set for Thursday lift-off
The STS-116 crew arrived Sunday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
to begin final preparations for launch on the STS-116 mission, a construction
flight to the International Space Station.
At Launch Pad 39B, Space Shuttle Discovery is safely enveloped by the
pad's rotating service structure, which protects the shuttle assembly
from the elements while providing access for technicians. The structure
will be rolled back to the "park" position early Thursday morning,
revealing the shuttle poised for launch.
The countdown is set to begin tonight at 11 p.m., with the clock starting
at the T-43 hour mark. There are 27 hours, 36 minutes of hold time built
into the countdown, leading to a preferred liftoff time at 9:35 p.m. EST.
Primary payloads on the 12-day mission are the P5 integrated truss segment,
SPACEHAB single logistics module and an integrated cargo carrier. This
will be the 20th flight to the station.
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