STS-116 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery. Liftoff was originally scheduled for 7 December 2006, but that attempt was canceled due to a low cloud ceiling. Discovery successfully lifted off during the second launch attempt on 9 December 2006 at 20:47:35 EST. It was the first night launch of a Space Shuttle orbiter since STS-113, which launched on 23 November 2002.
The mission is also referred to as ISS-12A.1 by the ISS program. The main goals of the mission were delivery and attachment of the International Space Station's P5 truss segment, a major rewiring of the station's power system, and exchange of ISS Expedition 14 personnel. The shuttle landed at 17:32 EST on 22 December 2006 at Kennedy Space Center, a delay of 98 minutes from schedule due to unfavorable weather conditions. This mission was particularly notable to Sweden since it was the first time a Scandinavian astronaut (Christer Fuglesang) has visited space.
Randy Hunt produced an STS-116 replica patch that represented the original crew: Terry Wilcutt, William Oefelein, Robert Curbeam, Christer Fuglesang, Michael Foale, Yuri I. Malenchenko, RKAm Bill McArthur, Ed Lu, Valery Tokarev, RKA, Aleksandr Y. Kaleri, RKA
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