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STS-116
Part of ISS
STS-116
STS-116
Credit: NASA
First Swedish astronaut. Most demanding ISS assembly mission to date. Completed installation of the P5 truss, retracted the recalcitrant port P6 solar array wing, and activated the truss electrical and cooling system.

AKA: Discovery;ISS-12A.1;Spacehab Logistics Module. Launched: 2006-12-10. Returned: 2006-12-22. Number crew: 6 . Duration: 12.86 days.

The mission used solid rocket booster pair RSRM-95 and external tank ET-123. At SSME burnout Discovery was in a 58 km x 220 km x 51.6 deg preliminary burn. The OMS-2 burn at 02:25 GMT placed the shuttle in a stable 225 x 250 km orbit from which rendezvous maneuvers began. Discovery docked with the ISS at 22:12 GMT on December 11. In the most demanding ISS assembly mission ever, the crew would require an additional spacewalk to complete installation of the P5 truss, retraction of the recalcitrant port P6 solar array wing, and activation of the truss electrical and cooling system. Sunita Williams rode the shuttle to the station, and remained behind with the EO-14 crew; ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, already aboard the station, was returned to earth. Due to weather problems a landing at White Sands was considered; but in the end Discovery landed safely at Kennedy Space Center, after which it was to enter a year-long overhaul cycle.

The flight was originally scheduled for July 2003 but was delayed after the Columbia disaster. In comparison with the original crew, Polansky replaced Wilcutt as commander, and Patrick was added. The original flight was to change out a complete three-member ISS crew. By 2006 the core two-member ISS crew was maintained at the station by the more reliable Soyuz. Instead, the only a third ISS crew member - Williams was brought up by STS-116 and exchanged for German astronaut Reiter.

Cargo manifest:

The STS-116 mission to the International Space Station was the most complex of the shuttle assembly flights. Seven shuttle astronauts and three station astronauts worked closely with flight to reconfigure the station's electrical power and cooling systems. The station had been running on a temporary electrical system since 1998. The new, permanent configuration incorporated power from the P4 solar arrays that were installed during STS-115. Discovery also delivered and installed the 1820-kg P5 truss element that extended the left side of the overall truss, allowing the P4 solar panels to rotate and it set the stage for the relocation of the P6 solar arrays on a later assembly flight. STS-116 astronaut Sunita Williams was left on the station with the EO-14 long duration crew, while ESA Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter, already aboard the station, was returned to earth. Problems with retraction of the P6 array resulted in the addition of an additional spacewalk and extended the mission by one day over the planned 12 days.

Before any rewiring could be done, half of the station's P6 solar array had to be folded up on flight day 5. To achieve the new power setup, ground control shut down the entire U.S. portion of the station in stages. This complex procedure has never before been attempted. The assembly sequence included three planned and one unplanned spacewalks:

Other major activities of the mission:

STS-116 was the 117th space shuttle flight, the 33rd flight for shuttle Discovery and the 20th flight to the station. It was the 29th nighttime shuttle launch and the first since Endeavour lifted off on STS-113 in 2002. During an average day on the station, flight controllers gave approximately 800 commands. During the highly-choreographed power transfer portion of this mission, on flight days 6-8, controllers gave about 4,500 commands. Ground teams had trained for six years to ensure the mission timeline was as efficient and safe as possible. As of STS-116, NASA estimated that 16,000 Americans were working on the Space Shuttle Program.


More at: STS-116.

Family: Manned spaceflight. People: Curbeam, Fuglesang, Higginbotham, Oefelein, Patrick, Polansky. Country: USA. Spacecraft: Discovery. Launch Sites: Cape Canaveral. Agency: NASA.

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