STS-116
Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103
United Space Alliance
Crew
Robert Curbeam
Status: Retired
3/5/1962 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 8/7/1997
Last Flight: 12/10/2006
Robert Lee Curbeam, Jr. is a former NASA astronaut and captain in the United States Navy.
Curbeam graduated from Woodlawn High School, Baltimore County, Maryland in 1980. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1984, a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1990, and a master's degree in Astronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1991.
He is a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and the Association of Old Crows.
Curbeam was named Fighter Wing One Radar Intercept Officer of the Year in 1989 and received the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School Best Developmental Thesis (DT-II) Award.
He currently holds the record for the most spacewalks during a single spaceflight. During the STS-116 mission, Curbeam completed four spacewalks.
Mark L. Polansky
Status: Retired
6/2/1956 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 2/7/2001
Last Flight: 7/15/2009
Mark Lewis "Roman" Polansky is an American aerospace engineer and research pilot and a former NASA astronaut. Polansky received the nickname "Roman" as a joke, because he shares a last name with director Roman Polanski. He flew on three Space Shuttle missions: STS-98, STS-116, and STS-127.
William Oefelein
Status: Dismissed
3/29/1965 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 12/10/2006
Last Flight: 12/10/2006
William Anthony "Bill" Oefelein is an American test pilot instructor and former NASA astronaut who, on his only spaceflight, piloted the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission.
Oefelein gained media attention on February 5, 2007 when fellow astronaut Lisa Nowak was arrested in Florida and charged with attempting to kidnap his girlfriend, U.S. Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman. Nowak later pleaded guilty to felony burglary and misdemeanor battery. Oefelein admitted to a two-year affair with Nowak, and he and Nowak became the first astronauts ever dismissed from NASA. Following the dismissals, NASA created its first astronaut Code of Conduct.
Nicholas Patrick
Status: Retired
11/19/1964 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 12/10/2006
Last Flight: 2/8/2010
Nicholas James MacDonald Patrick, Ph.D. is a British-American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. His flight on the 2006 Discovery STS-116 mission made him the fourth person born in the United Kingdom to go into space.
Christer Fuglesang
Status: Retired
3/18/1957 -
Nationality: Swedish
Type: Government
First Flight: 12/10/2006
Last Flight: 8/29/2009
Arne Christer Fuglesang (born March 18, 1957 in Stockholm) is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut. He was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on December 10, 2006, at 01:47 GMT, making him the first Swedish citizen in space.
Married with three children, he was a Fellow at CERN and taught mathematics at the Royal Institute of Technology before being selected to join the European Astronaut Corps in 1992. He has participated in two Space Shuttle missions and five spacewalks, and is the first person outside of the United States or Russian space programs to participate in more than three spacewalks.
Joan Higginbotham
Status: Retired
8/3/1964 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 12/10/2006
Last Flight: 12/10/2006
Joan Elizabeth Higginbotham is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. She flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-116 as a mission specialist.
Sunita Williams
Status: Active
9/19/1965 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 12/10/2006
Last Flight: 7/15/2012
Sunita Pandya Lyn Williams is an American astronaut and United States Navy officer of Indo-Slovenian descent. She formerly held the records for total spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). Williams was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15. In 2012, she served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33.
Mission
STS-116
Type: Human Exploration
STS-116 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery. Discovery lifted off on 9 December 2006 at 20:47:35 EST. A previous launch attempt on 7 December had been canceled due to cloud cover. It was the first night launch of a space shuttle since STS-113 in 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.
Location
Launch Complex 39B
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
211 rockets have launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA.
Rocket
Space Shuttle Discovery OV-103 – United Space Alliance
Family: Space Shuttle
Length: 38.1 m
Diameter: 8.4 m
Launch Mass: 2040 T
Low Earth Orbit Capacity: 24400 kg
The Space Shuttle Discovery OV-103 was manufactured by United Space Alliance with the first launch on 1984-08-30. Space Shuttle Discovery OV-103 has 38 successful launches and 0 failed launches with a total of 38 launches. Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the orbiters from NASA’s Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, gathering more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date.
Agency
United Space Alliance
Type: Commercial
Abbreviation: USA
Founded: 1995
Launchers: Space Shuttle
Country: USA
United Space Alliance (USA) is a spaceflight operations company. USA is a joint venture which was established in August 1995 as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), equally owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
