SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

Space Shuttle Discovery is on its way to the International Space Station. Expedition 14 awaits the STS-116 crew delivering with it the P5 truss segment and a new station crew member. Discovery lifted off at 7:47 p.m. EST Saturday from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The space shuttle will dock with the station Monday afternoon.

The P5 will be attached to the end of the P4 and sets the stage for the addition of the P6. STS-116’s stay at the station will feature three spacewalks to attach the P5 and to reconfigure and redistribute power generated by the station’s solar arrays.

The new crew member is NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams. She will replace European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter. Williams is scheduled to stay on the station for about six months and Reiter will return home with STS-116.

Throughout the week, the Expedition 14 crew has prepared for STS-116’s arrival by transferring cargo, preparing spacewalking tools and equipment and reviewing procedures for photographing the space shuttle's thermal protection shield as it approaches the station.

For the latest news and information on STS-116, visit the main shuttle page. + Read more http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

+ Read more about Expedition 14 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/index.html + View crew's daily timelines http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

+ Read more about Expedition 15 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html + Read the press release http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/oct/HQ_06337_new_station_crew.html