SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/.C #31468

LAUNCH COVERAGE NASA's Launch Blog - Mission STS-116

TIMES ARE EASTERN STANDARD TIMES NASA's launch blog was activated on December 7, 2006 at 3:25 p.m. EST

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6:19 p.m. - Pilot William Oefelein is the next to enter the orbiter. He will be followed by Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang of the European Space Agency.

6:17 p.m. - The next crew member to board is Sunita Williams, who is Mission Specialist 5. She'll be staying behind to serve as Flight Engineer on the International Space Station when the STS-116 crew returns to Earth later this month.

6:12 p.m. - As each crew member is suited for entry, orange glow sticks are tucked into the shoulder pockets on their upper sleeves. Like the orange suits, the glow sticks are intended to give the astronauts a means of identifying their locations in the unlikely event of an emergency landing in darkness.

6:10 p.m. - The astronauts have specific seating designations for each launch. Often the seating assignments are changed for descent. There is room for up to four seats in the middeck. As Commander, Mark Polansky will be the first astronaut to board. He will have the forward-left seat on the flight deck.

6:07 p.m. - The STS-116 crew has arrived at Launch Pad 39B, where they are exiting the Astrovan and boarding the elevator of the Fixed Service Structure for the ride up to the 195-foot level. From here they will enter the climate-controlled White Room, make their final preparations and then board the shuttle.

5:54 p.m. - T-2 hours, 45 minutes and counting. Steve Lindsey was just dropped off at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Now the Astrovan will continue on to the Launch Control Center, where astronaut Ellen Ochoa, head of Flight Crew Operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, will exit the van and join her co-workers in the Firing Room for the remainder of the countdown.

5:47 p.m. - The astronaut convoy is en route to Launch Pad 39B, a journey that typically takes 20-25 minutes. The "Astrovan" will make two stops. At one stop they'll let out astroanut Steve Lindsey, who will be heading to the Shuttle Landing Facility to scout out the weather for tonight's launch. The second stop is in front of the Launch Control Center before heading out to the pad.

Steve Lindsey, the weather pilot for this mission, will fly both a T-38 and the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) at different times tonight, checking the conditions up to launch. The weather coordinator for this mission is astronaut Dominic Gorie.

5:45 p.m. - Right on time, the STS-116 crew just walked out of the Operations and Checkout building, cheered on by a crowd of employees.

5:40 p.m. - T-3 hours and counting. There are two remaining holds left in the count at T-20 minutes and T-9 minutes.

5:30 p.m. - In ten minutes, we'll come out of the T-3 hour built-in hold and the countdown will resume. Darkness is beginning to fall at Kennedy Space Center, and the xenon lights out at the launch pad have been turned on, bathing Discovery and the mobile launcher platform in a brilliant white glow.

*Did You Know?* This is the first flight of a space shuttle with an Advanced Health Monitoring System installed. + Read More http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/162182main_STS-116_Press_Kit.pdf

5:19 p.m. - Kathy Winters http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/biographies/winters.html, launch weather officer, has given Launch Director Mike Leinbach the latest weather briefing. The winds have "gone red" -- out of limits -- but, in her words, they are only "bumping the constraint" and it is still possible that our weather could be clear enough to allow for launch later this evening.

5:09 p.m. - The weather seems to be improving, but it is still too close to call at the moment. The concerns at Kennedy are low cloud ceilings and showers in the launch area. Otherwise, the countdown is going rather well, with the forecast posing the only concern for now.

5:01 p.m. - In the astronaut crew quarters, the crew is receiving a weather briefing. It's still cloudy at the Florida spaceport, but with four-and-a-half hours left until launch, there is still time for the weather to become more cooperative.