Official Nasa Communication 06-068 Space Station

December 4, 2006 Katherine K. Martin Media Relations Office 216-433-2406 [email protected] RELEASE: 06-068 LOCAL EXPERTISE CONTRIBUTES TO SPACE STATION POWER UP Cleveland -- Engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center will watch with pride as the most complex assembly sequence to date of the International Space Station takes place during the upcoming space shuttle mission, STS-116. Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled for launch December 7 at 9:35 p.m. EST from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. During three planned spacewalks, astronauts will install the P5 truss segment that will serve as a spacer connecting the larger P3/P4 and P6 truss segments. They also will reconfigure and redistribute the power generated by the two pairs of solar arrays that were installed during earlier shuttle missions. The overall design and architecture of station's electric power system was managed by Glenn in the early 1990s. "Because we are well versed with station's power system capabilities and hardware configurations, members of Glenn's Electric Power System Management Team will be available to consult on any issues that may arise," said Greg Schmitz, International Space Station Subsystem Management Team Lead at Glenn. In partnership with NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Glenn's Electric Power System Management Team continues its responsibility for technical oversight of the station's power capability. "Turning on the power for station during this flight will set the stage for attachment of the European and Japanese research modules next year," said Tony Jannette, electrical power system engineer at Glenn. The station's electric power system consists of power generation, energy storage, power management and distribution equipment. Since 1998, the station has been running in a temporary configuration. During Discovery's mission, the electrical system will switch to a new, permanent configuration.

This 20th shuttle mission to the station will be the most choreographed assembly flight to date, involving the shuttle and station crew members and flight controllers in Mission Control. Members of Glenn's Electric Power System Management Team will be available for media interviews during the 12-day mission. Pre-launch activities and launch of Discovery can be viewed on NASA TV or on the Web. Glenn's Visitor Center is not scheduled to be open for public viewing of the launch. To access NASA TV on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For more information on Glenn's contributions to the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/projects/issgrc.html For more information on STS-116, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle -end-