Flight STS-116 started in the night of 9 December , when Discovery lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 20:47 local time, 02:47 Central European Time (CET) on 10 December. This was the first night launch of a space shuttle since its return to flight. Discovery successfully entered low Earth orbit after about 8 minutes of powered flight. Onboard the orbiter is a crew of seven, including one ESA astronaut, Christer Fuglesang.

The first five hours of the mission are devoted to configuring Discovery for on-orbit activities before the first sleep period. On its first full-day in space, the crew will conduct a series of in-flight inspections to ensure that Discovery has not suffered any damage during launch. Then the orbiter will manoeuvre to rendezvous with the space station. Docking is planned in the night of Monday 11/Tuesday 12 December at 00:17 CET.

Onboard the ISS, Fuglesang will be welcomed by fellow ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter from Germany, who has been serving as flight engineer on the ISS permanent crew since his arrival - also onboard Discovery - on July 6.

The STS-116 mission is the fourth Shuttle flight since the shuttle returned to flight last year and the second ISS assembly mission. It is due to deliver a new segment of the ISS truss as well as space station supplies, equipment and research payloads such as additional shield panels to protect the Russian Zvezda Service Module from micrometeorites and space debris. The crew will also perform a major reconfiguration of the ISS power supply and thermal control, patching in the new set of solar arrays and radiators delivered by Space Shuttle Atlantis in September.

First Swede in space

A Swedish physicist specialized in particle physics, Christer Fuglesang was selected in May 1992 to join ESA's Astronaut Corps at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, and STS-116 is his first flight in space.

In 1995, he served as back-up to Thomas Reiter on the 179-day Euromir 95 mission. Training both in the US and Russia, Fuglesang qualified for flight assignment as a NASA Mission Specialist in April 1998 and was awarded the Russian "Soyuz Return Commander" certificate in October 1998, also qualifying him to command a three-person Soyuz capsule on its return from space.

Fuglesang's current 12-day mission in space was named "Celsius" in reference to famous Swedish scientist and astronomer Anders Celsius, who not only invented the international temperature scale that bears his name but also collected observations of aurorae borealis and ventured into northern Scandinavia to take measurements that helped confirm Newton's belief that the Earth was flattened at the poles.

Mechanic, electrician, heating engineer...

Christer Fuglesang will spend one week onboard the ISS and will participate in two out of the three Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) planned as part of the ISS assembly mission.

On Tuesday 12 December he will leave the station with NASA astronaut Robert Curbeam for a 6-hour spacewalk to install a new truss segment that will enable the relocation next summer of the initial solar arrays from the top of the Destiny module to the port end of the ISS truss. Fuglesang and Curbeam will conduct another 6-hour EVA on Thursday 14 December to undertake the complex task of connecting the new solar arrays and radiators mounted on a truss segment delivered in September to the station's power supply and thermal control systems.

"Christer is participating in an important mission for the development of the station's capabilities," said Daniel Sacotte, ESA's Director for Human Spaceflight. "ISS assembly is now proceeding and the upcoming reconfguration and increase in power supply will be a critical step towards preparing the ISS for the flight of Europe's two key contributions to this international effort: the ATV resupply ship and the Columbus laboratory , both scheduled for next year".

... But also scientist and sportsman

In addition to these "outdoor" activities, Fuglesang will conduct a series of experiments developed by European scientists to assess the effects of cosmic radiation on human physiology, a topic of tremendous importance for the preparation of future long-duration missions beyond Earth orbit.

The ALTEA experiment will investigate the effects of such radiation on brain function, tracking its passage through the astronaut's brain while monitoring his cerebral activity. Another experiment, Chromosome 2, will study the impact of this radiation on human genes. Like Thomas Reiter has done since boarding the ISS in July, Christer Fuglesang will also wear European Crew Personal Dosimeters (EuPCD) to measure the cumulated dose of radiation received through the flight.

In addition, Fuglesang will perform some educational demonstrations dealing with radiation in space and, as a former Swedish national frisbee champion, he will try to break the current record for maximum time aloft for a frisbee, obviously an easy task in a microgravity environment.

Discovery will undock from the ISS on Monday 18 December with both Christer Fuglesang and Thomas Reiter onboard. Before returning back to Earth, Christer Fuglesang will be in charge of deploying three US nanosatellites from the orbiter's payload bay.

Touchdown on Cape Canaveral's Shuttle Landing Strip is due on Thursday 21 in late evening at 22:17 CET.

related report

Relief Crewmember For Thomas Reiter On The Way To ISS
Cologne, Germany (SPX) Dec 12 - Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-116) lifted off on 9 December 2006 at 20:47 local time (10 December at 02:47 CET), continuing NASA's series of shuttle flights to upgrade the International Space Station (ISS). One of the on-board crew is American NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who will relieve permanent crewmember and flight engineer Thomas Reiter after his extended stay on the station as a member of the Expedition 14 crew

Professor Sigmar Wittig, Chairman of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), congratulated NASA Administrator Michael Griffin on the successful launch of Discovery: "The successful launch of Discovery is yet another step in the scientific exploitation and upgrading of the ISS. Mission STS-116 represents a successful conclusion to the European Astrolab mission," said Wittig. "Over the last six months, the Columbus Control Center, in particular, has had a real chance to prove its expertise and capabilities."

German-Canadian scientific collaboration onboard ISS

The STS-116 mission marks the beginning of the PMDIS/TRAC experiment (Perceptual Motor Deficits in Space/Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities). This experiment is part of a collaboration between Germany and Canada and continues the scientific use of the ISS by German researchers.

The experiment is a joint project between York University in Toronto (represented by Prof. B. Fowler) and the German Sports University in Cologne (Prof. O. Bock), with the participation of NASA (Dr J. Bloomberg).

The project was brought to fruition by the Canadian Space Agency and DLR in its capacity as Germany's space agency. DLR supported the development of the experimental equipment by Kayser-Threde in Munich, and research carried out at the Sports University. Canada, as an ISS partner, is providing the necessary resources onboard the ISS. The experiment is designed to answer questions about the human coordination of movement, particularly in relation to the process of adjustment in zero gravity and after returning to Earth from space. Specifically, the experiment will study the changes in the astronauts' manual dexterity during the course of a mission.

Other tests will measure alertness, spatial awareness and other cognitive functions. The STS-116 mission, the Discovery's 33rd mission and the 20th Space Shuttle assembly mission to the ISS, is scheduled to last twelve days. After one crewmember has been relieved, a new structural element (the P5 truss) will be installed and the temporary electrical and cooling systems reconfigured. The mission will involve three EVAs (spacewalks). After undocking from the ISS, the Discovery crew will also launch three small satellites into Earth orbit.

Related Links
Celsius Mission
Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com

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