News Media Invited to View Space Station’s Solar Wings

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will provide an opportunity for reporters to see the International Space Station’s next element at 10 a.m. EST, Thursday, Dec. 18. The S6 truss segment, with its set of large U.S. solar arrays, will be attached to the starboard, or right, side of the station during space shuttle Discovery’s STS-119 mission. STS-119 is targeted to launch Feb. 12, 2009.

NASA and Boeing mission managers involved in processing the element for flight will be available for a question-and-answer session during the event. Media representatives planning to attend must arrive at Kennedy’s news center by 9:30 a.m. for transportation to the Space Station Processing Facility. The processing facility is an operational area. All participants must be dressed in long pants, shirts with sleeves, and flat, closed-toe shoes.

The element will complete the backbone of the station. The two solar wings will provide one-fourth of the total power needed to support a crew of six astronauts. The S6 truss is expected to be loaded into the payload transportation canister Jan. 7, in preparation for its targeted journey to the launch pad Jan. 11.