In the White Room on Launch Pad 39B, STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky places the mission placard at the hatch opening. The White Room is the point of entry into Space Shuttle Discovery for the crew. Other crew members are Pilot William Oefelein and Mission Specialists Joan Higginbotham, Sunita Williams, Nicholas Patrick, Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, who represents the European Space Agency. The mission crew is at KSC for the TCDT, which includes a simulated launch countdown. The STS-116 mission is No. 20 to the International Space Station and construction flight 12A.1. The mission payload is the SPACEHAB module, the P5 integrated truss structure and other key components. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than Dec. 7. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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