After one delay of nearly two days, the Space Shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven astronauts lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B at 8:47 PM EST on Saturday, December 9, 2006. It is the start of the most complicated and challenging mission to the International Space Station to date.
"It's an extraordinary event, and I hope everyone appreciates just how extraordinary," NASA administrator Michael Griffin said of the liftoff. "This is the best team in the world."
"The vehicle was awesome, the team was awesome," launch integration manager LeRoy Cain agreed. "I'm extremely happy for the team, the crew and everyone who worked extremely hard on this mission."
The launch culminated a countdown challenged only by a cold front dominating weather across the spaceport. Packing cloud cover and gusty winds, the front caused the scrub of Thursday's launch and posed an early threat to this evening's attempt before weakening in time for liftoff.
While close to the launchpad, the ground shook, as the engines ignited with a monstrous roar, the warm glow of Discovery's solid rocket boosters and trio of main engines lit the night sky for miles throughout the Kennedy area, marking the first night launch of a space shuttle in four years.
Now, it is time for the crew of STS-116 to get down to business, which includes rewiring the International Space Station and installing a new segment of the outpost's integrated truss system. During the mission, ISS Flight Engineer Sunita Williams will take her place on the station, relieving Thomas Reiter, who will return to Earth with shuttle Discovery.
This is the 33rd mission for the space shuttle Discovery and the 117th space shuttle flight.
