CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla - For the first time in more than four years, a NASA space shuttle Discovery is
poised to light up the night sky in an evening launch
bound for the International
Space Station (ISS). But weather may intervene.
Veteran
spaceflyer Mark
Polansky and his six-astronaut crew are set to launch spaceward tonight at
9:35:47 p.m. EST (0235:47 Dec. 8 GMT) on a challenging mission to deliver a new
piece of the space station and rewire the outpost's power grid. [Click here
to learn how to spot the shuttle's launch in the sky.]
"I'm
looking forward to a really spectacular launch coming up," NASA shuttle program
manager Wayne Hale said of today's planned space shot. "I think we're all ready
to resume night launches."
Only poor
weather threatens Discovery's planned liftoff, with forecasts predicting just a
40 percent chance of favorable launch conditions. Low clouds and local rain
showers are top concerns, shuttle weather officials have said.
Discovery's
launch window stretches through Dec. 17, though Friday and Saturday space shots
also suffer from dismal
weather outlooks.
Set to ride
into space with Polansky today are: Discovery shuttle pilot William
Oefelein and mission specialists Robert
Curbeam, Nicholas
Patrick, Joan
Higginbotham, Sunita
Williams and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer
Fuglesang, Sweden's first spaceflyer to bound for orbit. With exceptions of
Polansky and Curbeam, all five STS-116 astronauts are making their spaceflight
debut today.
"We're
certainly going to go into the thing very optimistic," Polansky told reporters
during training. "We expect that everything is going to work just as
advertised."
Discovery's
STS-116 launch will mark NASA's fourth shuttle flight since the 2003 Columbia accident and the
first to lift off in darkness since late 2002.
Shuttle
flight controllers are relying radar installations to monitor the spacecraft's
ascent. More than 100 cameras will watch the launch, their view illuminated by
Discovery's twin solid rocket boosters, NASA officials said.
Orbital
construction awaits
Discovery's
STS-116 astronauts are hauling the $11-million Port 5 (P5)
spacer segment to the ISS and will install it to the station's portside
edge during the first of three spacewalks planned for their 12-day
mission.
Two other spacewalks
are dedicated to rewiring the space station's power system into its permanent
configuration and the activation of the $100 billion orbital laboratory's
primary cooling system. Some tasks hinge on the successful retraction of a
solar panel--something never before attempted in the station's six years of
human occupation--which will allow new
portside solar arrays to rotate and track the Sun.
"I don't
think we've ever had a flight where we've done so much reconfiguration of the
ISS all at once," NASA's ISS program manager Michael Suffredini said this week.
"We're going to do the largest power down of the space station on this flight."
The STS-116
mission also includes the rotation
of one crewmember aboard the ISS. Williams, a spacewalker and mission specialist,
will relieve ESA astronaut Thomas
Reiter as an Expedition 14 flight engineer. She'll join ISS
commander Michael
Lopez-Alegria and flight engineer Mikhail
Tyurin aboard the station.
"Thomas
[Reiter] is ready to return, although in talking to him last week, it sounded
as if he would stay a little bit longer if we asked him to," Suffredini said,
adding that Reiter has lived aboard the ISS since July. "The team is ready to
go and the vehicle is ready to accept the shuttle crew."
Night
eyes
NASA's last
three shuttle launches--two return
to flight tests and one ISS
construction mission--each launched in daylight to give ground and air-based
observers a clear view of the orbiter's external fuel tank safety modifications.
No less
than 107 visible and infrared cameras, three launch radar systems are in place
to track fuel tank foam debris--or other debris for all NASA shuttle launches
following the 2003 Columbia
accident. Launch controllers added an additional radar system--literally for
the birds--to scan for pesky vultures or other avian visitors flying along a
shuttle's launch path.
Shuttle
officials are confident that illumination from Discovery's rocket boosters will
generate enough light to record the shuttle's launch by camera based on
nighttime tests conducted last month.
""We had a
marvelous night firing of a solid rocket motor," Hale said. "We proved that
some of the cameras on board the vehicle will get some data for us."
Discovery's
crew, meanwhile, is eager to fly.
"It's time
for a night launch," Patrick said.
NASA
will broadcast Discovery's launch countdown and planned liftoff on NASA
TV beginning at about 3:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT). You are invited to follow
the countdown's progress using SPACE.com's feed, which is available by clicking
here.
SPACE.com staff
writer Tariq Malik contributed to this story from New York City.
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