STS-116 (also known as ISS-12A) was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery. Discovery lifted off on December 9, 2006, for her 33rd flight at 20:47:35 EST. A previous launch attempt on December 7 had been canceled due to cloud cover. It was the first night launch of a Space Shuttle since STS-113 in November 2002.
The mission is also referred to as ISS-12A.1 by the ISS program. The main goals of the mission were delivery and attachment of the International Space Station's P5 truss segment, a major rewiring of the station's power system, and exchange of ISS Expedition 14 personnel. The shuttle landed at 17:32 EST on December 22, 2006, at Kennedy Space Center 98 minutes off schedule due to unfavorable weather conditions. This mission was particularly notable to Sweden, being the first spaceflight of a Scandinavian astronaut (Christer Fuglesang). The European segment of the mission was called "Celsius".
STS-116 was the final scheduled Space Shuttle launch from Launch Complex 39B, as NASA began reconfiguring the pad for Ares I launches. Its only subsequent role in the Shuttle program was as a contingency launch site for STS-400, a proposed Launch On Need rescue mission for STS-125 in 2009, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing flight, in the event of severe orbiter damage. Launch Complex 39B would not support another crewed launch for nearly two decades, until Artemis II.
After STS-116, Discovery entered a period of maintenance. Its next mission would be STS-120 starting on October 23, 2007.
Crew
Crew notes Originally this mission was to carry the Expedition 8 crew to the ISS. The original crew was to be:
Mission highlights
The STS-116 mission delivered and attached the International Space Station's third port steel truss segment, the P5 truss. The STS-116 mission brought to the Station Expedition 14 crew member Sunita Williams (who subsequently established a record for most time in space for a female astronaut) and brought home Expedition 14 crew member Thomas Reiter from European Space Agency (launched by STS-121). Christer Fuglesang became Sweden's first astronaut. His flight was a rare occurrence of two ESA astronauts flying in space together. The third of three SPHERES testbeds launched to the ISS. Astronauts completed major rewiring of the electrical system of the International Space Station in order to bring online the P3/P4 solar array installed by STS-115 in September 2006. Additional rewiring was done to ISS Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA2) to enable Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) commencing with STS-118. One half of the original P6 solar array installed by STS-97 was folded to make room for the new P4 array deployed by STS-115 to rotate and track the sun. STS-116 was the last STS mission scheduled for launch from pad 39B. The pad was then refitted for upcoming Ares I launches. The crew of STS-116 consisted of five rookie astronauts. Only Mission Commander Mark Polansky (2) and Mission specialist Robert Curbeam (3) had previously flown in space. Robert Curbeam became the first astronaut to make four EVAs during the same mission. This was the first mission with two African-American crewmembers.
Mission notes As one of the main goals of STS-116 was to exchange ISS Expedition 14 crew members, the crew of STS-116 changed mid-flight. ISS Flight Engineer Sunita "Suni" Williams was part of the STS-116 crew for the first portion of the mission. She then replaced ISS Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter on the Expedition 14 crew and Reiter joined the STS-116 crew for the return to Earth.
Final Assembly Power Converter Unit mission for Discovery During planned orbiter upgrades that took place subsequent to this mission, Discoverys Assembly Power Converter Units (APCUs) were removed and replaced with the shuttle-side components of the Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS). The APCUs converted 28VDC orbiter main bus power to 124VDC, compatible with the ISS's 120VDC main bus power. During initial station assembly missions, orbiter APCU power was used to augment the power available from the Russian service segment. With the operation of permanent main electrical systems (e.g. P4 array and SARJ, MBSUs, DDCUs, Ammonia cooling systems), orbiter power was no longer needed by the ISS.
After STS-118, Discovery and Endeavour drew power from the ISS, although Atlantis was never upgraded with the SSPTS. This system slowed the orbiters' consumption of hydrogen and oxygen used by their onboard electricity-generating fuel cells. The hydrogen and oxygen supplies, stored cryogenically in tanks aboard the orbiter, limited the duration of Space Shuttle missions. As a result of the changeover to SSPTS, Discovery and Endeavour gained approximately 50% of the time that would have been spent docked otherwise. This resulted in 2–4 extra days for each ISS-docked mission. Section 8.5, page 66 AFT FLIGHT DECK PAYLOADS SWITCH LIST FOR HANDOVER
Mission payloads
The primary payload for the STS-116 mission was the P5 Truss segment of the International Space Station. The shuttle also carried a Spacehab Logistics Module to resupply the ISS, and an Integrated Cargo Carrier with four sub-satellites, which were deployed after undocking from the ISS: the ANDE technology demonstrator (OSCAR 61 and 62), developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, and three CubeSats (RAFT-1 (OSCAR 60) and MARScom for the United States Naval Academy, and MEPSI 2A/2B for DARPA). It was the first Shuttle mission to deploy satellites since STS-113 in 2002.
LocationCargoMassBay 1–2Orbiter Docking System?Bay 3Tunnel AdapterBay 4–5Spacehab Logistics ModuleBay 5P?APCU (Assembly Power Converter Unit) (28VDC-to-124VDC) with SPDU (Station Power Distribution Unit)2 x Bay 7–8Truss segment P5Bay 11–12Integrated Cargo CarrierSTP-H2, FRAMService Module Debris Panels?RAFT-1MARScomMEPSI 2A/2BANDE launch cylinder?ANDE-MAAANDE-FCAL total SillOBSS (Orbital Boom Sensor System) 202?SillRMS 303 Total
Crew seat assignments Seat Launch Landing Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck. 1 Polansky 2 Oefelein 3PatrickHigginbotham 4 Curbeam 5 Fuglesang 6HigginbothamPatrick 7WilliamsReiter
Mission background
STS-116 was planned (post return-to-flight) to launch on December 14, 2006. But on November 29, 2006 NASA announced that the launch team had been asked to aim for a launch on December 7, 2006, rather than the original target date of December 14. The launch window for the STS-116 mission opened on December 7 and extended through December 17. The seven-member flight crew arrived for launch at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility on December 3, 2006, in the afternoon. Primary payloads on the 13-day mission were the P5 integrated truss segment, SPACEHAB single logistics module, and an integrated cargo carrier. The STS-116 mission was the 20th Shuttle flight to the station.
Launch on the new, earlier date required a night-time launch. Subsequent to the Columbia disaster, NASA had imposed rules requiring shuttle launches to be conducted during the day, when light would be sufficient for cameras to observe falling debris. With the redesign of shuttle tank foam having minimized the amount of falling debris and the availability of in-orbit inspection procedures, the daylight-launch requirement was relaxed.
Rollover of Discovery to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) occurred on October 31, and on November 1 the orbiter was raised into a vertical orientation and moved into High Bay 3 to be mated with the external tank and solid rocket boosters. Rollout to Launch Complex 39B was completed on Thursday November 11.
The crew for the mission arrived at Kennedy Space Center on November 13 to begin their final four-day prelaunch training for the mission, which included familiarization activities, rehearsal of emergency procedures and practice on NASA's Shuttle Training Aircraft, along with a simulated countdown, which took place on the morning of November 16, 2006. The astronauts then traveled to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and returned to Kennedy Space Center on December 3, 2006, four days before the planned launch date.
The payloads for the mission, including a SPACEHAB module and the P5 truss, were loaded from the payload canister into Discovery's payload bay on November 16, and, with the sealing of the payload bay doors, all that remained was to fill the external fuel tank before the Discovery shuttle stack was in full launch configuration. With the completion of the Flight Readiness Review over November 28–29 (which evaluated all activities and elements necessary for the safe and successful performance of the shuttle during the mission, including the Orbiter itself, the payload and flight crew), Discovery was given her Certificate of Flight Readiness, the launch date was officially set to December 7, 2006, and the mission officially given the "Go" for launch.
Mission timeline
December 7 (Launch attempt 1)
Following the completion of the pre-launch preparations, all eyes were on the Florida skies, due to a forecast low cloud ceiling for the night of the launch. The mission's seven astronauts were loaded into Discovery ready for the scheduled launch at 21:37 EST, with hopes high for a break in the clouds, but as the scheduled launch time approached it became apparent that the cloud would not break, and the launch attempt was scrubbed, with the next attempt scheduled for December 9, 2006. Prior to the initial attempt on December 7, NASA had determined that they would not attempt a launch on Friday because of a cold front moving in that eventually scrubbed Thursday's launch attempt.
December 9 (Flight day 1 – Launch)
Discovery lifted off successfully at 8:47 pm EST (01:47 UTC), lighting up the Florida's coastline. Weather conditions – in particular crosswinds at the launch and landing sites – continued to trend positively in the hours approaching the launch window Saturday night. The fueling process for Discovery's external tanks began at 12:46 EST (17:46 UTC) and was completed at approximately 15:45 EST (20:45 UTC). If a transatlantic abort landing (TAL) had been required during ascent, the shuttle had three possible landing sites: Zaragoza or Morón Air Base in Spain, or Istres, France.
The launch was the third shuttle mission in five months, being preceded by STS-121 in July and STS-115 in September, and was the first night launch in four years since STS-113 and first night launch following the Columbia accident during STS-107. It is also the last time a shuttle launched from LC-39B. December 10 (Flight day 2)
Flight day 2 began for the astronauts at 15:47 UTC. The first order of business for the day was a thorough inspection of the Shuttle. Using sensors and cameras attached to a fifty-foot boom, which was in turn connected to a fifty-foot robotic arm, Nicholas Patrick inspected the leading edge of the wings and the nose cap. The process, which took five and a half hours, suffered a minor glitch that required Patrick to order the arm to manually grab the boom. During this time, the crew also inspected the upper surface of the orbiter. Astronauts also completed a check of the spacesuits to be used during the mission, along with preparation for docking with the International Space Station.
December 11 (Flight day 3 – Docking to ISS)