Former Red Ripper Robert L. Curbeam, Jr., (CAPTAIN, USN) will be riding
Discovery into orbit on Thursday as a mission specialist aboard STS-116.

Here's a link to his NASA bio:



http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/curbeam.html

Also riding aboard STS-116, proposed launch Thursday, December 7 is astronaut Christer Fuglesang, mission specialist representing the European Space Agency and also the first ever Swedish astronaut! He'll be conducting two space walks to re-wire the electrical system onboard the ISS, a task NASA has dreaded for more than two years as the station needs to be powered down and then back up again to complete the work.

Here's a link to his NASA bio:



http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/fuglesan.html


P.S. He's from Stockholm, about 40 miles away from where I grew up and I will be there watching the launch Thursday night!


Space Shuttle Mission STS-116
Orbiter: Discovery
Mission: Space Station Assembly Building 12A.1
Payload: P5 Integrated Truss Segment
Launch Date: Dec. 7, 2006
Launch Time: 9:35 p.m. EST
Launch Pad: 39B
Landing Date: Dec. 19, 2006
Landing Time: 4:35 p.m. EST
Mission Duration: 12 days

That's awesome!

When do you plan on heading over there LD? If not b/f 6 then I'm so there

Never seen a night launch b/f

I was thinking of making the trek to watch the night launch myself from Orlando, but that traffic is a huge deterent for me; when I can see it clearly from my pool-deck as it points East and I have a lake behind the house so no obstructions.

Should light up the sky this Thursday night.

Have you guys noticed the F-15's that have been flying around, patrolling the area. I saw another one today during lunchtime while at Lockheed.

oh god I would love to see a space ship launch, the rumble, the noise, the joy of hearing the engines blast off. Never seen one before and I really want to sometime

Night launches are definitely cooler. I've seen a few in the past. Best shot I ever took was from a vantage point overlooking the Indian River and when the Shuttle blasted off it made a crystal clear reflection in the calm waters, making it look like there were two Shuttles departing in opposite directions at night! You'd be surprised how bright it gets once the SRBs light off. From pitch black it's as if someone turned a light switch on with a giant flame casting bright light for miles.

And yes, the rumble...

NASA plans to launch another 16 missions with the Shuttle before its mandatory retirement in 2010. Certainly worth catching one go up if you ever happen to be in the neighborhood!

Here's a synopsis of Shuttle Mission STS-116: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... rview.html

Lift-off in...........not yet

Anybody know if the launch will be broadcasted on TV or what?

It was fun standing in the wind, trying to keep warm, all for the price of $5 (for parking) with a great view of pad 39B... and that was about it! Just got to see the launch pad lit up at night and spend 2 hours driving home in traffic. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!

I called it- unfortunately. Here's hoping the weather looks better in the next 4 days.

This was a sight to behold! Flames lit up the skies over central Florida with a scattered layer at 20K to reflect a lot of the light back to earth as well. Simply... outstanding!

That has got to be one hell of a sight!

Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang in action. Now that's spacewalking! Had to post this beautiful shot!

HOLY COW! IDK how I'd be able to concentrate on my work with a view like that.

Wow thats amazing, I don't think I could do something like that. You know people say they're afraid of heights, I wonder if the same rule applies when you cant fall . That'd be great, see the entire world in just a day... Great shot!