spacetoday.net: STS-116 flight readiness review to begin

Posted: Tue, Nov 28, 2006, 7:19 AM ET (1219 GMT)

NASA will kick off a two-day flight readiness review for the next space shuttle mission today in advance of next week's planned launch of the shuttle Discovery. The review will confirm preparations for the launch of Discovery on mission STS-116 and confirm the shuttle's launch date, which is currently scheduled for 9:36 pm EST December 7 (0236 GMT December 8) from the Kennedy Space Center. The mission will install a new truss segment on the ISS and begin the process of reconfiguring the station's solar panels to accommodate new truss segments and solar panels that will be installed on future missions. The launch will be the first nighttime launch for the shuttle in over four years.