SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY STS 116 LIFTOFF

CNN INTL LIVE

Space Shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven astronauts lifted off Saturday from Kennedy Space Center at 8:47 p.m. EST. After reaching orbit, Discovery's crew set to work to open the payload bay doors, set up computers and equipment and check out the shuttle's robotic arm. Heat shield inspections will begin Sunday with a station docking scheduled for Monday at 5:05 p.m.

The STS-116 crew members will dock to the International Space Station, install the new P5 truss structure and perform three spacewalks to rewire the station for electricity generated by a solar array delivered in September.

STS-116 will also swap crew members when mission specialist Sunita Williams becomes a flight engineer for Expedition 14. Taking Williams' place aboard Discovery for the ride home is European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter who has lived aboard the station since July.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• SPACE
• SHUTTLE
• DISCOVERY
• STS
• 116
• ROCKET
• LIFTOFF

[teched246]

remember you can always pluck a rubberband farther than you can throw it :)

[teched246]

for all thier rocket science and complex equations  these mortals could only achieve brute force

instead of pushing off into space why not try springing up into space and use the brute force of the rockets to simply direct the craft.

[armania6]

lol nice to have that mutch hp in your car :)

[tubeyou443]

44000000 HP.. LOL

[PianomanMNL]

Man! What a great experience to have seen this in person. My wife and I just happened to be passing thru and stayed 3 extra days to see this launch at night. So awesome!

[lidul]

wow! amazing! i love night lauches!

[FUSER2K07]

i missed the launch lol i was looking at the SPEEED! 2000 mph or summin!

[tiwn102]

You have no decision in what time they launch. Awesome launch!!!

[IndianaSPEED]

Great launch. I was in Titusville by the Titusville Docks off of US 1. Awesome view from my spot!

[pam99999]

awesum