STS-116 crew exits Operations and Checkout Building

STS116-S-005 (9 Dec. 2006) --- After suiting up, the STS-116 crewmembers exit the Operations and Checkout Building to board the Astrovan, which will take them to launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. On the right (front to back) are astronauts Mark L. Polansky, commander; William S. (Bill) Oefelein, pilot; and Christer Fuglesang, mission specialists representing the European Space Agency (ESA). On the left (front to back) are astronauts Joan E. Higginbotham, Nicholas J. M. Patrick, Sunita L. Williams and Robert L. Curbeam, Jr., all mission specialists. Discovery's seven-member crew will link up with the International Space Station on Monday, Dec. 11, to begin a complex, week-long stay that will rewire the outpost and increase its power supply. During three spacewalks and intricate choreography with ground controllers, the astronauts will bring electrical power on line generated by a giant solar array wing delivered to the station in September.