WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000
Reiter, who traveled to the station in July aboard Discovery during STS-121, will return to Earth with the STS-116 crew.

00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:10.000
VIDEO NARRATOR: Polansky -- along with William Oefelein, Robert Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham,

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:18.000
Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang and Sunita Williams -- will have a busy work schedule for the 12-day mission.

00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:23.000
MARK POLANSKY: I really need to know the big picture, what's going on with the entire crew,

00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:33.000
be looking out for the rest of my crew with regards to their timelines, their tasks, making sure that people aren't

00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:39.000
getting over-utilized in certain areas, as well as concentrating on the things that, in particular,

00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:48.000
I'll be performing on the flight.  So it's sort of like being both a player and a coach at the same time.

00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:55.000
VIDEO NARRATOR: One of the prime tasks of the mission will be to install the Port 5 truss segment on the station.

00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.000
The shuttle's robotic arm will hand off the truss to the station's robotic arm,

00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:05.000
which will be used to carefully position the segment for attachment by two spacewalkers.

00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.000
Sunita Williams and Joan Higginbotham will operate the station's arm.

00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:14.000
JOAN HIGGINBOTHAM: The arm operations are really complex.  We have very tight tolerances between the,

00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:19.000
the arm and different structures.  For example, on our mission, we are going to, as we're putting the

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:25.000
P5 truss into position, we are coming within inches of a box.  And, and that's unheard of.

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:31.000
You always want to stay two feet away from structure.  So, two feet and two inches is a, is a big difference!

00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:36.000
VIDEO NARRATOR: Since it went into service, the space station has been running on a temporary electrical configuration.

00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.000
Once the truss is in place, the astronauts will tackle the difficult task of

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:46.000
reconfiguring the station to run on power generated by its new solar arrays.

00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:51.000
These arrays were attached and deployed by the STS-115 crew in September

00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:56.000
and are designed to rotate to remain pointed optimally at the sun.

00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:01.000
During two additional spacewalks, mission controllers on the ground will send

00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:07.000
commands to switch off power, then unplug and replug power cables into different locations.

00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:13.000
What sounds simple on Earth is certainly more difficult -- and dangerous -- when working in space.

00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:17.000
The work is full of unknown factors, like working with parts of the station that

00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.000
have been exposed to the harsh conditions of space for a number of years.

00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:28.000
One such process will require folding up a solar array currently in use to allow the new ones to fully rotate.

00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:34.000
European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang, the first Swedish astronaut in space,

00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.000
will participate in two of the mission's spacewalks.

00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:41.000
A final goal of the mission is a crew exchange as Williams trades places with

00:02:41.000 --> 00:03:01.000
German astronaut Thomas Reiter to become the new flight engineer of the space station's Expedition 14 crew.

00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:06.000