KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Lamps spotlight the payload canister transporter as it slowly carries its cargo past the Vehicle Assembly Building on the road to Launch Pad 39B for mission STS-116. Inside the canister are the SPACEHAB module and the port 5 truss segment, which will be moved into the payload changeout room at the pad and transferred into Space Shuttle Discovery's payload bay once the vehicle has rolled out to the pad. The payload canister is 65 feet long, 18 feet wide and 18 feet, 7 inches high. It has the capability to carry vertically or horizontally processed payloads up to 15 feet in diameter and 60 feet long, matching the capacity of the orbiter payload bay. It can carry payloads weighing up to 65,000 pounds. Clamshell-shaped doors at the top of the canister operate like the orbiter payload bay doors, with the same allowable clearances. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton KSC-06pd2454
