CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - Launch countdown proceedings are going smoothly for the
planned Thursday liftoff of NASA's space
shuttle Discovery.
"Our
systems are currently in great shape," said NASA test director Steven
Payne in a status briefing here at the Kennedy Space Center. "Countdown is
progressing and we have no issue of consequence."
Thursday's planned
space shot is set to commence at 9:35:47 p.m. EST (0235:47 Dec. 8 GMT). It will
mark NASA's third shuttle launch this year and the agency's first night launch
since 2002. The shuttle's bright engine plume should
be visible to skywatchers along the eastern United States, weather
permitting. [Click here
for a viewing map.]
The weather
forecast for launch day dipped slightly this morning in response to a cold
front that moved through Central Florida yesterday, but still stands at a 70
percent chance of favorable flight conditions. Weather conditions are expected
to degrade significantly to 40 percent if Discovery's launch is delayed until
Friday or Saturday.
"Overall,
the first day is the best day weather-wise," said NASA shuttle weather
officer Kathy Winters. "Our main concern will be the ceiling on launch day
and winds the following two days."
The launch
window currently runs from Dec. 7 to 17, but extensions are possible if shuttle
mission managers approve Discovery for flight over the end-of-year
rollover.
"Some
of the computers handle the New Year in a [different] way," Payne
explained. "Some of them go to Day 366 and some go to Day 1, so it
requires a reboot in order to get them all to talk to each other and be
synchronized. Our preference is not to have to do that, but it's not a
showstopper."
Led by commander
Mark Polanksy, the five-man, two-woman crew
of STS-116 arrived here at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Sunday afternoon and
countdown clocks for the launch began ticking at 11:00 p.m. Monday night (0400
Dec. 6 GMT). The astronauts are performing a series of spacesuit fittings, medical
checks and going over their orbiter and payload systems today, NASA officials
said.
The STS-116
crew is tasked with rewiring
the electrical grid of the ISS and delivering a new $11
million portside piece of the orbital laboratory. Mission specialists Sunita
Williams will also relieve ESA astronaut Thomas
Reiter who has been aboard the station since July.
A built-in four-hour
hold is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) today. The countdown will pick
up again at 7:00 p.m. EST (0000 Dec. 7 GMT). Among the day's scheduled tasks are
some checks of the small explosive devices designed to separate the shuttle
from its mobile launch pad, and the loading of cryogenic fuel that powers
Discovery's fuel cells.
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