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**Over 2300mb of STS-116 onwards related presentions and mission documentation <\/em>available on L2<\/em> ** Daily MMT\/MER STS-116 information on L2 helped collate this article.<\/em><\/p>\n **LIVE news updates on Discovery STS-116 \u2013 FOR EACH FLIGHT DAY**<\/em> \u2013 100s of live updates each flight day, including images and videos, all interactive.<\/p>\n Weather constraints are the defining factor for determining Discovery\u2019s destination, which continue to place White Sands at the top of the list at the end of Thursday. However, the preferred option of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has by no means been ruled out.<\/p>\n Edwards Air Force Base in California is the other option open to NASA on Friday, which is also preferred to White Sands, due to the on-site facilities and past experience in returning an orbiter back to KSC, around a week after landing.<\/font><\/p>\n White Sands holds a number of issues for Discovery, as noted in a previous article on this site. However, deputy shuttle manager John Shannon noted that the ability to care for the orbiter in New Mexico is solidifying, as managers continued to work mitigation plans during all of Friday.<\/p>\n \u2018Landing at White Sands is no concern to us at all. The concern with White Sands is with the turnaround facilities. We don\u2019t have the large mate\/de-mate facility that we use to lift the orbiter on to the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, and we don\u2019t have as much equipment out there to service the vehicle. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018As far as a landing site, it\u2019s one of the best places you\u2019d want to land. <\/font><\/p>\n Shannon\u2019s comments were more positive than the memos that were being sent to the MMT (Management Mission Team) by NASA managers earlier in the day, which made a point of noting the freezing temperatures \u2013 and the relevance of those conditions to Discovery herself. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018In my conversation with (name deleted) this morning, the landing will be Friday. A remote chance for a Saturday landing but according to the \u2018rules\u2019, Saturday is only if there is a systems problem, not weather,\u2019 noted one memo acquired by this site. <\/p>\n \u2018There is a very good chance it will be at White Sands and everyone is scrambling because they (White Sands) do not have the equipment to safe the orbiter and temperatures are freezing or below. <\/p>\n \u2018Plus the orbiter will be there for at least a month until they can get the ferry equipment there to ferry the orbiter to KSC. It\u2019s not a great situation but possibly no choice in the matter. We will wait and see and pray for a break in the weather.\u2019<\/p>\n Another memo, from the MMT, emphasized the issues relating to Discovery\u2019s thrusters and hydrazine\/water lines in such freezing conditions.<\/p>\n \u2018Northrup Discussion \u2013 KSC ground operations personnel summarized the capabilities available at Northrup. The community is confident that the orbiter can safely land at Northrup and there are adequate faculties to egress the crew,\u2019 noted the memo. <\/p>\n \u2018One of the main concerns with a landing at Northrup is how it affects the post-processing of the vehicle. <\/p>\n \u2018During the extended period where the orbiter would remain at Northrup, the orbiter could be exposed to low temperatures that would increase the chances of leaking thrusters and freezing hydrazine\/water lines. <\/p>\n This concern extrapolates into some additional risk to the ground personnel that are post-processing the orbiter.<\/p>\n \u2018After taking a poll, the MMT team unanimously agreed that crew safety will not be traded at the expense of vehicle turnaround concerns.\u2019<\/p>\n On the positive side, Shannon pointed out that the weather at the White Sands Space Harbor is now forecast to stay above freezing for Discovery\u2019s first overnight stay, allowing for extra time for KSC equipment to be shipped and installed in New Mexico. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018We are taking some backup equipment from KSC, which are on two C-17s leaving Florida later today (Thursday), this will include a nitrogen purge unit and a power unit to protect the vehicle (from the freezing temperatures) \u2013 plus around 60 workers to protect her. <\/font><\/p>\n Aerospace & Defense (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n \u2018If we land there, I feel we\u2019ll be in great shape on the vehicle, but the turnaround is going to take a little bit longer. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we were out there for 45-60 days while we get the crane set up to do a safe lift on to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.\u2019 <\/font><\/p>\n Should the weather improve in Florida, Discovery\u2019s first attempt will be given a green light to land at KSC. That would see a go being given for the deorbit burn at 2:49pm Eastern, resulting in a landing at KSC at 3:56pm Eastern. <\/p>\n Should that attempt prove to be constrained by the weather, Edwards, then White Sands, will be considered for potential landing opportunities.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, as expected, Friday\u2019s landing received the official go-ahead, following the confirmation that Discovery\u2019s Thermal Protection System (TPS) is in great shape, resulting from the Late Inspection evaluations by the MMT.<\/font><\/p>\n The scheduled checkouts of Discovery\u2019s systems \u2013 that are required for returning home \u2013 also proved to be in perfect working order. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018This was another just another fantastic day in space for Discovery. The crew are in great spirits and they are ready to land the vehicle,\u2019 said Norm Knight Entry Flight Director for STS-116. \u2018The best news of the day is the Late Inspection results came back and the MMT cleared the vehicle for entry. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018The primary aim for today was to check the vehicle out. We performed the flight control system checkout and we also performed the RCS (Reaction Control System) hotfire. Both of those activities were completed, and both were nominal. <\/p>\n \u2018This wasn\u2019t a surprise for us as the vehicle has been performing extremely well on this mission.\u2019<\/font> **INFINITY: 10 minute STS MUSIC VIDEO**<\/font><\/em> \u2013 **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/p>\n <\/font><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shuttle orbiter Discovery and her seven crew members are enjoying their final hours on orbit, ahead of Friday\u2019s return to Earth. In what will mark the end to a superb STS-116 mission, the only remaining question is where Discovery will land, with White Sands Space Harbor still favorite, as full scale operations are mobilized to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/75.126.85.10\/xmas.gif\")
A change in the forecast is hoped for, given KSC would allow Discovery to return to her Orbiting Processing Facility (OPF) the same day, as opposed to what could be up to 60 days, if she lands at White Sands.<\/p>\n
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**LIVE news updates on Discovery STS-116 \u2013 FOR EACH FLIGHT DAY**<\/font><\/em>
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