Date: October 17th 2006

Oct 16, 2006

Allard Beutel Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4769

James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111

MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-161

NASA SETS BRIEFINGS TO PREVIEW NEXT SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION

NASA will preview the next space shuttle mission during a day-long series of media briefings beginning at 9 a m EST, Monday, Nov 6 from the Johnson Space Center, Houston The briefings will be broadcast live on NASA TV and include overviews of the space station and shuttle programs, the mission, spacewalks and a crew news conference

Space Shuttle Discovery's 11-day mission, designated STS-116, is targeted for launch no earlier than Dec 7 on a flight to the International Space Station Discovery will bring a new crew member to the station, and astronauts will rewire the growing orbiting laboratory to bring online new power supplies generated by solar arrays installed in September

The rewiring during the mission will almost double the electrical power available on the station Discovery's astronauts will perform three spacewalks to rearrange the station's electrical and cooling systems and install a small, new component of the girder-like truss The work will require powering down and re-powering virtually all of the station's key systems in one of the most complex assembly missions to date

U S media planning to attend the Nov 6 briefings must contact the Johnson newsroom, 281-483-5111, by 6 p m EST Nov 3 Foreign media representatives planning to attend, regardless of citizenship, must contact Johnson by 6 p m EST Friday, Oct 20, to arrange credentials Questions also will be taken from media at participating NASA sites Reporters should contact their preferred NASA facility to confirm availability

Following the crew news conference, individual astronauts will be available for prearranged round-robin interviews Media may arrange participation by phone or in-person by contacting Gayle Frere at 281-483-8645 by 6 p m EST Nov 2

Discovery's crew members are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nick Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Suni Williams and Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency astronaut Williams will remain aboard the station to begin a six-month stay European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, aboard the station since July, will return to Earth on Discovery

Briefing schedule for Monday, Nov 6: (all times Eastern):

9 a m Shuttle and station programs' overview 10:30 a m STS-116 mission overview 12 p m Lunch break (NASA TV Video File broadcast) 1:30 p m STS-116 EVA (spacewalk) overview 3 p m STS-116 crew news conference 7 p m STS-116 ESA briefing with Fuglesang (European only)

Fuglesang's 7 p m individual briefing will take questions only from European media present at Johnson and in Stockholm, Sweden, as arranged by the European Space Agency

For NASA TV streaming video, schedules, and downlink information, visit:

http://www nasa gov/ntv

STS-116 will be the 20th shuttle mission to visit the station For the latest information about the STS-116 mission and its crew, visit:

http://www nasa gov/shuttle

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: BULK_EMAIL

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/list/[list]

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at: