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  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #26

    12.22.06 - Discovery’s wakeup call said it all. The song was “Home for the Holidays,” sung by Perry Como for the crew, requested by the Mission Control Center.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #25

    12.21.06 - Discovery’s astronauts completed preparations for a planned return to Earth on Friday and received word from Mission Control that their final inspection showed the shuttle’s heat shield is in good shape.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #24

    12.21.06 - Discovery’s astronauts will spend today preparing to return to Earth. They will test flight control surfaces, steering jets and other entry and landing systems while they stow equipment in Discovery’s cabin.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #23

    12.20.06 - Inspection of Discovery’s heat shield was conducted today as the seven crewmembers began the task of preparing their ship for their high-speed return to Earth on Friday.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #22

    12.20.06 - Discovery crew members will make a final check of the shuttle’s heat shields today, using a sensor-equipped 50-foot extension of the shuttle’s robotic arm.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #21

    12.19.06 - Crews aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station bid one another farewell at 4:10 p.m. CST today, wrapping up eight days of docked operations.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #20

    12.19.06 - Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts will leave the orbiting laboratory today after four successful spacewalks, delivery and installation of a new segment of the International Space Station’s main truss and reconfiguring the station’s power system.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #19

    12.18.06 - Space Shuttle Discovery Astronauts Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang guided the port overhead solar array wing neatly inside its blanket box during a 6-hour, 38-minute spacewalk.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #18

    12.18.06 - Discovery and International Space Station crew members will conduct their fourth spacewalk of the week today, an excursion aimed at freeing a snagged, partially retracted station solar array so it will fully fold properly.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #17

    12.17.06 - Flight controllers today put the finishing touches on plans for the fourth spacewalk recently added to the mission.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #16

    12.17.06 - Astronauts will spend much of today getting ready for a fourth spacewalk during Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #15

    12.16.06 - During a spacewalk partially choreographed as it happened, STS-116 Astronauts Bob Curbeam and Sunita Williams finished rewiring the International Space Station and shook loose a balky solar array so their crewmates inside could retract it almost two-thirds of the way.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #14

    12.16.06 - The third spacewalk of Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to begin at 1:37 p.m. CST to complete the rewiring of the orbiting laboratory’s power system.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #13

    12.15.06 - The crews of Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station tried again to refold an accordion-like solar array with help from engineers and flight controllers on the ground, but none of the techniques succeeded in clearing the jam.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #12

    12.15.06 - With half the International Space Station’s electrical system rewired, the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery gets half a day off today before they finish the job during a third spacewalk set for Saturday.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #11

    12.14.06 - Two spacewalking electricians completed half of STS-116’s rewiring today, and when flight controllers threw the switch, the lights inside the International Space Station turned on again without a hitch.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #10

    12.14.06 - The second spacewalk for Discovery's crew members is scheduled for this afternoon. During the spacewalk, set to start about 2:12 p.m. CST, Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang will begin to rewire the station’s power system.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #09

    12.13.06 - The first phase of the electrical and thermal makeover of the International Space Station was completed tonight as the outpost’s newest solar arrays began rotating to follow the sun and ammonia flowed into the station’s permanent cooling system for the first time.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #08

    12.13.06 - Retracting a solar array wing that has been extended in space for six years will highlight the activities aboard the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Discovery today.

  • STS-116 MCC Status Report #07

    12.12.06 - The International Space Station is now two tons heavier, with the installation today of its newest truss segment during the flight’s first spacewalk.