Hello and welcome! I'm Jim Kennedy, director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Space Shuttle Discovery, commanded by Mark Polansky,
is ready to take the next step in constructing the International Space Station.
Mission STS-116 will be one of the most complex and difficult missions for our astronauts.
The delivery of another truss segment and a SPACEHAB element to the space station is just the beginning.
Two spacewalks are planned for this mission.
During the first space excursion, the astronauts will fold up part of a solar
panel that's been in place for nearly six years, making room for the new solar arrays to rotate.
Major rewiring of the system will supply the station with a permanent
power-generating source from the P3/P4 truss, which was installed by the STS-115 crew.
Discovery's flight will also take astronaut Sunita Williams to the
station to remain there as part of the Expedition 14 crew.
If you have questions about the mission, the "Ask the Mission Team" Question Board is the place to post them.
They'll be answered by our panel of NASA experts.
We appreciate your interest in NASA's Space Shuttle and International Space Station Programs, and thank you for your participation in this mission.