Nov. 29, 2006 Allard Beutel Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4769 James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-183 NASA FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEWS SET AS SHUTTLE COUNTDOWN STARTS HOUSTON - The flight director for NASA's third space shuttle mission this year, STS-116, will be available for satellite interviews from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. CST Monday, Dec. 4, shortly before the launch countdown begins for shuttle Discovery's flight. STS-116 Lead Flight Director John Curry, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, native, will oversee a flight that will rewire the International Space Station, bringing electrical power on line from solar arrays launched earlier this year. The interaction between mission control in Houston and Discovery's crew will be among the most complex ever as ground controllers cut power and repower station systems while astronauts rearrange cabling and cooling systems. Curry's interviews will be conducted live via the NASA Television analog satellite. To participate, media must contact Tim Hinson at NASA's Johnson Space Center newsroom, 281-483-5111, no later than noon CST Monday, Dec. 4. Discovery's crew of seven is set to launch at 9:35 p.m. CST Dec. 7 on the 12-day mission. Three spacewalks will be conducted during the flight. The results will leave the station's power system ready for further expansion next year, when more solar arrays and international laboratories are to be added. Discovery also will bring a new crew member to the station to begin a six-month stay and bring home a station resident who has been in orbit since July. Curry will lead a team of flight directors, flight controllers, support personnel and engineering experts that will staff mission control, Houston, 24/7 during the mission. The NASA TV analog satellite is AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude; transponder 5C, 3800 MHz, vertical polarization, with audio at 6.8 MHz. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For more information about STS-116 and its crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
