SPACE.com -- Launch Date Expected for NASA's Next Shuttle Mission

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The space shuttle Discovery is settled on its Launch Pad 39B for launch of mission STS-116. Work crews hauled the orbiter and its launch stack to Pad 39B on Nov. 9, 2006 for a Dec. 7 launch. Credit: NASA/Amanda Miller. Click to enlarge.

The STS-116 crew walks out of the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Launch Pad 39B during the terminal countdown demonstration test. Leading the way are commander Mark Polansky (right) and mission specialist Joan Higginbotham (left). Behind them are (left and right) mission specialist Nicholas Patrick and pilot William Oefelein; and mission specialists Sunita Williams, Christer Fuglesang; and Robert Curbeam (right). Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett. Click to enlarge.

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	Launch Date Expected for NASA's Next Shuttle Mission By Tariq Malik Staff Writer posted: 29 November 2006 6:15 a.m. ET

NASA's top space shuttle managers are expected to set a firm launch date for the Discovery orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew today after a two-day meeting at the agency's Florida spaceport.

Mission managers have been targeting Dec. 7 as the earliest possible date to launch Discovery's STS-116 spaceflight to continue assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). The mission's launch window currently stretches through Dec. 17.

"Everything at this point is proceeding really well for the Flight Readiness Review," NASA spokesperson Jessica Rye told SPACE.com of the two-day meeting underway at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. "There are no issues at this point that would prohibit us from launching in the December window."

NASA managers are expected to hold a press briefing following today's flight readiness review discussions beginning no earlier than 3:00 p.m. EST (2100 GMT). [Click here to watch the press briefing live via SPACE.com's NASA TV feed.]

Discovery is currently slated to launch no earlier than 9:35:42 p.m. EST (0235:42 Dec. 8 GMT) on Dec. 7 in NASA's first night liftoff since the 2003 Columbia accident. If shuttle managers stick to that plan, the Discovery's astronaut crew will arrive at KSC on Dec. 3 to prepare for the upcoming space shot.

Commanded by shuttle flight veteran Mark Polansky, Discovery's STS-116 astronauts plan to ferry a new crewmember to the ISS, as well as install a new piece of the station's main truss and rewire the outpost's power system.

The 12-day mission is currently expected to return to Earth on Dec. 19.

You are invited to follow NASA's post flight readiness review briefing at 3:00 p.m. EST via SPACE.com's NASA TV feed, which is available by clicking here.

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