NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

In darkness, Discovery rolls out of its processing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the short trip to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Once there, the orbiter will be joined to its large external tank and twin solid rocket boosters, which are already stacked on the mobile launch platform.

Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39B no earlier than Nov. 7 in preparation for launch on mission STS-116 to the International Space Station. The mission's payload includes the next space station component -- the P5 integrated truss segment -- as well as the SPACEHAB module and other key components. During the mission, the crew will not only install the truss segment, but also rewire the station to use the new solar arrays deployed by the crew of STS-115 in September. The launch window for mission STS-116 opens Dec. 7.

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