STS-105

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  26888 / 01035A Launch date - time  10 Aug 2001 - 21:10:14 UT Launch site  KSC, LC39A Launch vehicle  Space Shuttle Orbiter  Discovery #30 (OV-103) Primary payload  MPLM-1 Leonardo & Simplesat Mass (kg)   Launch Crew  Horowitz, Sturckow, Forrester, Barry Culbertson, Dezhurov, Turin Docking date - time  12 Aug 2001 - 18:42 UT Target spacecraft/port  ISS/PMA-2 port Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee   km    - Inclination  °    - Period   min Undocking date - time  20 Aug 2001 - 14:52 UT Landing date - time  22 Aug 2001 - 18:22:58 UT Landing location  KSC, Runway 15 Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  11d 21h 13m Nbr orbits  186 Landing crew  Horowitz, Sturckow, Forrester, Barry Voss, Helms, Usachyov  (crew STS-105 & STS-102)

Launch crew

Summary:

Description cargo bay:

• The cargo bay contains the Integrated Cargo Carrier platform and the Leonardo module, and a set of canisters on the sidewall. The ICC will carry the Early Ammonia Servicer for the P6 truss, and two small exposure experiments PEC-1 and PEC-2 under the MISSE materials exposure program, which will be installed on Quest. The Leonardo module contains Express Racks 4 and 5, as well as resupply stowage racks.
• HEAT is a Hitchhiker payload comprising Simplesat, G-774 and SEM-10, on two adapter beams on the port and starboard sides of bay 13. The 13P beam carries G-774 in the forward position and SEM-10 in the aft position. G-774 is the Microgravity Smoldering Combustion (MSC) experiment. SEM-10 is a canister with 11 school experiments. The 13S beam carries the Simplesat can forward and the ACE avionics plate aft.
• Another adapter beam in Bay 4 port carries two half-size (2.5 cubic foot) GAS canisters. G-780 is a Mayo High School (Rochester, Minnesota) experiment to study germination of faba beans; aft of it is the PSP-1 (Program Support Package 1) canister for NASA-GSFC which contains passive experiments and ballast.
• Cargo bay estimation:

                                                              Mass/kg
  Bay 1-2   Orbiter Docking System/External Airlock            1800
            3 EMU spacesuits?                                   360?
  Bay 4P    Adapter beam with G-780 and PSP-1                   200?
  Bay 5     Integrated Cargo Carrier/KYD                       1280
            Early Ammonia Servicer                              640
  Bay 7-12  MPLM FM1 (Leonardo) module                         9800?
  Bay 13P   Adapter beam with G-774 and SEM-10                  410
  Bay 13S   Adapter beam with Simplesat and ACE avionics        355
            Simplesat                                            52
  Sill      RMS arm                                             410
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Total                                                       
  

Mission details:

• STS-105 was launched on Aug 10, 2001 at 21:10 UTC. MECO (main engine cutoff) was at 21:18 UTC with separation of external tank ET-110 into a 58 x 234 km x 51.6 deg orbit. At 21:48 UTC Discovery reached apogee and fired its OMS engines to enter a 155 x 233 km x 51.6 deg orbit; another burn at around 01:00 UTC raised the orbit to 198 x 277 km. Meanwhile the External Tank fell back towards the Pacific and re-entered at its first perigee at around 22:40 UTC.
• Discovery docked at the Station's PMA-2 port at 1842 UTC on Aug 12. After some problems aligning the docking system, the docking ring was retracted and latched at 1905 UTC and the hatch was opened to ISS at 2042 UTC.
• Barry (EV1) and Forrester (EV2) made two spacewalks from the external airlock on Discovery. EVA-1, on Aug 16, 2001 transferred the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS) device from the ICC carrier in the payload bay to the P6 truss on the station. Then the astronauts took two MISSE materials exposure experiment boxes from the ICC and attached them to the outside of the Quest airlock. The airlock was depressurized at about 1356 UTC and the duration was 6h18m (depress/repress), 6h10m (hatch open/close), or 6h16m (NASA rule).
• The second spacewalk on Aug 18 installed Orbit-Installed Handrails and Launch-to-Activation Heater Cables on Destiny. The cables are needed for the installation of the S0 truss to be launched in early 2002. The airlock was depressurized at about 1339 UTC and spacewalk duration was 5h31m (depress/repress), 5h24m (hatch open/close), or 5h29m (NASA rule).
• The Leonardo MPLM module was lifted out of Discovery's payload bay at 1326 UTC on Aug 13 and docked to Unity's nadir at 1554 UTC. 3300 kg of cargo from it was loaded on to the Station and 1700 kg of cargo was returned to it; it was unberthed from Unity at 1816 UTC on Aug 19 and berthed back in the payload bay for the return to Earth at 1917 UTC the same day. Discovery undocked at 1452 UTC on Aug 20 with the Expedition 2 crew aboard, leaving Expedition 3 on the Station.
• At 1830 UTC on Aug 20 the Simplesat satellite was ejected from a GAS canister in the cargo bay. Simplesat has a 0.3m optical telescope and a GPS attitude control system. It is intended to test methods for building cheap astronomical satellites and controlling them from a cheap ground station. As of Aug 25 the ground station was still having teething problems.
• Discovery landed at Kennedy Space Center at 1822:58 UTC on Aug 22. Landing was on runway 15, after a deorbit burn at 1715 UTC. The Expedition Two crew of Usachyov, Voss and Helms had been in space for 167 days.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel KSC. Credit: J. Vd Dr.

Landing cancel KSC. Credit: J. Vd Dr.