BRUCE BUCKINGHAM: This is shuttle Launch Control at T-3 hours and holding, and everything continues to go well with our countdown
today. I have with me now Debbie Hahn, who is our STS-116 payload manager. Debbie, thanks for joining us.
DEBBIE HAHN: It's great to be here.
BUCKINGHAM: Good. Well, we've got some exciting things happening on this mission,
and it's basically your payloads that are going to be a vital part to that.
How have things been going with the payload activities over the past couple of days?
HAHN: Our ground processing activities have gone extremely well.
We've been able to install the payload, get all of our interface verification tests complete,
and all of our payload hardware and our experiment software is loaded and ready to go.
BUCKINGHAM: Great. Well, that's good news and we've got a lot ahead of us tonight.
But right now, we've got a tape that we're going to play that shows an overview of the payload activities
and we'll let you talk to it. So let's roll out that tape.
HAHN: This video is a short summary of the KSC International Space Station ground processing flow for STS-116.
Ground processing for this mission began with the arrival of the P5 integrated truss segment on the Super Guppy in 2001.
The P5 integrated truss segment was manufactured in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
P5 completed its assembly and checkout operations and was ready for installation into the payload
canister in October 2006. The P5 is approximately 11 feet in length, 15 feet in diameter and weighs 4,106 pounds.
Right now, the P5 is being transferred into the canister.
The canister is used to transport the payloads to the pad. Then the SPACEHAB single-logistics
module arrived at the Space Station Processing Facility.
It was installed into the canister on November 3. The module is approximately 10 feet long,
13 1/2 feet in width, it provides roughly 1,100 cubic feet of volume for cargo and weighs 11,902 pounds.
After the payload complement was installed into the canister horizontally,
it was transferred to the Canister Rotation Facility and rotated vertically for its trip to the pad.
The canister then began the long, slow journey to the pad on November 6.
Weather has been an interesting partner in our payload transfer task, and delayed several operations.
This mission represents the most complex International Space Station construction flight yet attempted,
and will include three spacewalks to reconfigure the electrical and thermal systems.
It will also require one of the P6 solar arrays to be retracted to allow rotation of
the newly installed P4 panels as needed. The canister was then lifted into the payload changeout room.
The payload complement was transferred into Discovery's payload bay.
The payload configuration from bottom to top is the integrated cargo carrier with the service
module debris panels and the Space Test Program H2 payload, the P5 integrated truss segment
and the SPACEHAB single logistics module.
In addition, above the SPACEHAB module are the SPACEHAB tunnel adaptor and the orbiter docking system.
The payload completed closeouts and the payload bay doors were closed on November 17.
So that's just a short summary of our actual ground processing flow for STS-116.
BUCKINGHAM: Well, that's some exciting activities and exciting video,
and I know that this whole mission which is going to last about 12 days is
going to be a very important part to the continued construction of the International Space Station.
The P5 truss, as you said, came in several years ago.
Did we have any significant or issues with it from the time that we got it to today,
where we're going to launch it into space?
HAHN: We've actually had no significant issues with the P5 truss.
It's a very simple piece of hardware, but it's going to make us, a large change in our on-orbit operations.
BUCKINGHAM: Well, it is, and so we're looking forward to having a good launch tonight,
weather permitting, and we're looking closely at that right now.
But Debbie, thanks for joining us. I know you've got a lot of work to do.
Get back to your console and monitor activities. So thanks for coming over. HAHN: Thank you.