KSC-06pd2505

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The STS-116 crew pauses for the media at the Shuttle Landing Facility after their arrival. At the microphone is Mission Commander Mark Polansky. The crew members (from left) are Mission Specialists Sunita Williams, Joan Higginbotham and Nicholas Patrick, Polansky, Pilot William Oefelein, and Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang. The crew has returned to KSC for the terminal countdown demonstration test, which are prelaunch preparations that include a simulated launch countdown. The mission is No. 20 to the International Space Station and construction flight 12A.1. The mission payload is the SPACEHAB module, the P5 integrated truss structure and other key components. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than Dec. 7. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett