Date: November 30th 2006

Nov 29, 2006

Katherine Trinidad Headquarters, Washington 202-358-3749

Jessica Rye Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468

RELEASE: 06-359

NASA GIVES 'GO' FOR SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCH

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla - NASA senior managers today unanimously recommended launching the Space Shuttle Discovery on December 7 Commander Mark Polansky and his six crewmates are scheduled to lift off at 9:35 p m EST on the STS-116 mission, one of the most challenging flights to continue building the International Space Station

During the 12-day mission and three spacewalks, the crew will work closely with flight controllers at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, to install a new segment of the station's girder-like truss and activate the station's permanent, complex power and cooling systems

The launch date was announced after a traditional meeting, known as the Flight Readiness Review During the two-day meeting, top NASA managers and engineers assess any risks associated with the mission and determine whether the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for flight

"What struck me during this meeting was how complex this mission is and how it fits into the next series of assembly missions," said Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier, who chaired the Flight Readiness Review "We had a very good discussion on a lot of topics and our teams worked hard to make sure we had all the information we need to set our launch date for next Thursday "

Joining Commander Polansky aboard Discovery will be Pilot Bill Oefelein, mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham, Nicholas Patrick, European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang and Sunita Williams Williams will remain aboard the station for six months ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, who has lived on the station since July, will return to Earth on Discovery

For more information about the STS-116 mission, including images and interviews with the 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: