Three Days to Go
The STS-116 crew arrived Sunday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin final preparations for launch on the STS-116 mission, a construction flight to the International Space Station.
At Launch Pad 39B, Space Shuttle Discovery is safely enveloped by the pad's rotating service structure, which protects the shuttle assembly from the elements while providing access for technicians. The structure will be rolled back to the "park" position early Thursday morning, revealing the shuttle poised for launch.
The countdown is set to begin tonight at 11 p.m., with the clock starting at the T-43 hour mark. There are 27 hours, 36 minutes of hold time built into the countdown, leading to a preferred liftoff time at 9:35 p.m. EST.
+ Countdown 101
Primary payloads on the 12-day mission are the P5 integrated truss segment, SPACEHAB single logistics module and an integrated cargo carrier. This will be the 20th flight to the station.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sh...ain/index.html
Countdown 101
Follow along with the countdown! The Virtual Launch Control Center is the only place online to get breaking information directly from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Live countdown coverage will begin about six hours prior to launch and will conclude about 10 minutes after liftoff, when orbit insertion is complete. Coverage includes frequent updates on the countdown status and videos of key events.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sh...ntdown101.html