STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky left and Pilot William Oefelein look at one of Discovery's edge.

From a platform in the Orbiter Processing Facility, STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky (left) and Pilot William Oefelein look at one of Discovery’s reinforced carbon-carbon wing leading edge. They and other crew members are at KSC for a Crew Equipment Interface Test. Mission crews make frequent trips to the Kennedy Space Center to become familiar with the equipment and payloads they will be using. STS-116 will be mission 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