|
|
|
|
 |
| Image above: The Aurora Borealis, also known as "northern
lights", is featured in this photograph taken by a STS-116 crew
member onboard Discovery during flight day 11 activities. Image Credit:
NASA |
•
Watch NASA TV
Flight controllers wave off first landing opportunity
Unstable weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., forced flight
controllers to pass on Space Shuttle Discovery’s first landing opportunity
of the day. The STS-116 crew and flight controllers have turned their
attention to a set of three opportunities on the next orbit, number 203.
The opportunities on orbit 203 are at 5:32 p.m. EST at Kennedy, 5:27
at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and 5:27 p.m. at the White Sands
Space Harbor in New Mexico.
Flight controllers and forecasters will continue to monitor weather at
all three sites. If weather does not cooperate, on orbit 203, two opportunities
are available on orbit 204 – 7 p.m. at Edwards and 7:02 at White
Sands. One opportunity is possible on orbit 205 – 8:36 p.m. at Edwards.
The STS-116 crew is returning home after a successful mission to the
International Space Station. While at the station, the crew continued
the construction of the outpost with the addition of the P5 spacer truss
segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks rewired
the station’s power system, leaving it in a permanent setup. A fourth
spacewalk was added to allow the crew to retract solar arrays that had
folded improperly.
Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of
equipment and supplies to the station, most of which were located in the
SPACEHAB cargo module. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the
station are returning to Earth with STS-116
|
|
|
