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You're watching NASA Direct. Next on the NASA Space Shuttle Status Report: NASA rings in the new year by taking steps toward returning the space shuttle fleet to flight. The NASA Space Shuttle Status Report starts right now. I'm Stephen Payne, NASA test director, and this is the NASA Space Shuttle Status Report. Topping NASA's orbiter news this week: Inside Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3, work continues progressing for Discovery's second space shuttle return-to-flight test mission, STS-121. New this week: technicians are focusing on installing the orbiter's fuel cells. The fuel cells are located under the forward portion of the payload bay. Fuel cells make power for the orbiter by mixing hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity. The fuel cells also create potable water that is pumped into storage tanks for the crew to use. Also on Discovery, a crew module leak check. To perform the leak check, technicians must close all the hatches and pressurize the cabin to monitor for pressure decay. Atlantis makes progress inside Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 in preparation for mission STS-115 in 2006. The most recent milestone: Atlantis' Remote Manipulator System installation. The RMS is the space shuttle's arm -- used to move payloads and to assist the astronauts during spacewalks. And orbiter Endeavour powered up this week. Endeavour opened its payload bay doors to support a midbody wiring modification. It's called the 'Station to Shuttle Power Transfer System,' or SSPTS. The SSPTS allows the space shuttle to stay docked at the International Space Station longer by providing its power and preserving its consumables. That's all the time we have for this week's Space Shuttle Status Report. Stay with NASA TV and nasa.gov for the latest in mission news. For the NASA Space Shuttle Status Report, I'm Stephen Payne.