STS-135

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  37736 / 11031A Launch date - time  08 Jul 2011 - 15:29:04 UT Launch site  KSC, LC39A Launch vehicle  Space Shuttle Orbiter  Atlantis F-33 Primary payload  MLM Raffaello Mass (kg)   Docking date - time  10 Jul 2011 - 15:07 UT Target spacecraft/port  ISS/Harmony module (PMA-2) Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee   km    - Eccentricity      - Inclination  °    - Period   min Undocking date - time  19 Jul 2011 - 06:28 UT Landing date - time  21 Jul 2011 - 09:57 UT Landing location  KSC, runway 15 Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  12d 18h 28m Nbr orbits  200 Landing crew  launch crew

Crew

Mission details:

• LAST SHUTTLE FLIGHT ISS ULF-7 MPLM Raffaello
• Orbiter OV-104 Atlantis soared into space on Jul 8, 2011 from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, beginning the final Space Shuttle flight. Launch had been planned for 1526 UTC but was delayed with a brief hold at the T-31 second mark because of a sensor failure in the launch tower arm that lets excess liquid oxygen drain from the tank. After this issue was resolved, launch occurred successfully at 1529:04 UTC.
• Atlantis reached a 57 x 227 km orbit; the External Tank separated and the Orbiter coasted to apogee, firing the OMS engines to raise the orbit to 155 x 230 km. On Jul 10 at 1507 UTC orbiter OV-104 Atlantis docked with Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA-2) on the end of the Harmony module at the International Space Station. On this mission, only four astronauts were aboard instead of the usual six to eight, to make it easier to return them on Soyuz ships if anything goes wrong.
• Commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists MS-1 Sandra Magnus and MS-2 Rex Walheim joined the Expedition 28 crew of Commander Andrey Borisenko and flight engineers FE-1 Aleksandr Samokutyaev, FE-3 Ron Garan, FE-4 Sergey Volkov, FE-5 Satoshi Furukawa and FE-6 Mike Fossum. The Expedition 28 crew have dual roles on the Russian ferry ships, with Samokutyaev as komandir (commander) of Soyuz TMA-21 with Borisenko and Garan as bortinzhener (flight engineer) BI-1 and BI-2, and Volkov as komandir of Soyuz TMA-02M with Fossum and Furukawa as BI-1 and BI-2.
• Atlantis was carrying the Raffaello MultiPurpose Logistics Module, which is stuffed with six Resupply Stowage Racks, eight Resupply Stowage Platforms, two ISS Stowage Platforms, and one Zero-G Stowage Rack, all carrying supplies for the Station. Also in the cargo bay was the LMC carrier with the Robotic Refuelling Mission box, which will be transferred to the Station, and an attachment plate for the failed Pump Module S/N 02 removed from the truss in February and then stashed on the ELC-2 platform. During the mission the failed PM was bolted on the LMC and brought back to Earth for analysis. Also in the payload bay was the tiny Aerospace Corporation Picosat Solar Cell Experiment satellite which was be ejected after undocking.
• STS-135 Cargo Bay Manifest:

                                     Mass
   External Airlock/ODS            1800? kg
   EMU spacesuits 3015, 3006        260?
   RMS arm 301                      410?
   Orbiter Boom Sensor System       382?
   MPLM-2 Rafaello                11556
   SPDU                              17?
   ROEU 755 umbilical for MPLM       78?
   LMC:
    Lightweight MPESS Carrier      1050?
    Robotic Refuelling Mission      300?
   Picosat Launcher                  22
    PSSC-2/MTV satellite              4
   -------------------------------------
   Total                          15879 kg
  

• Astronauts Fossum and Garan made a spacewalk from the Quest airlock on Jul 12, 2011 (6h 31m) using suits EMU 3010 and 3009; the airlock was depressurized below 0.7 psi at 1320 UTC and repressurized at 1953 UTC. The failed Pump Module S/N 02 was retrieved from ELC-2 and put on the LMC in the cargo bay, and the RRM experiment was moved from LMC to the EOTP location on the Station's Dextre robot arm. A small experiment called ORMatE-III, launched to ISS on STS-134 as part of the MISSE-8 project, was removed from the airlock and installed on ELC-2 next to the main MISSE-8 PEC exposure experiment, and the spare PMA-3 docking port was wrapped in a thermal protection cover to prevent it overheating.
• Atlantis undocked from ISS on Jul 19 at 0628 UTC and on Jul 20 it deployed the small 4 kg Picosat Solar Cell Testbed satellite.
  At 0849 UTC on Jul 21 the OMS engines were fired to lower the orbit to 46 x 389 km. Atlantis entered the atmosphere at 0925 UTC and touched down on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 0957 UTC, bringing to an end the final Shuttle flight.
• Shuttle Atlantis Retirement (Ref: #110)
  

Astrophilately covers:

Machine Launch cancel KSC. Credit: J. Vd Dr.

Landing cancel KSC + red cancel. Credit: J. Vd Dr.

Cover carried by ATV-2 to ISS and returned by STS-135. Credit: #401