STS-119

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  34541 / 09012A Launch date - time  15 Mar 2009 - 23:43 UT Launch site  KSC, LC39A Launch vehicle  Space Shuttle Orbiter  Discovery #36 Primary payload  ITS-S6 Mass at launch  120860 kg Docking date - time  17 Mar 2009 - 21:19 UT Target spacecraft/port  ISS/Harmony PMA-2 port Orbital parameters on Mar 17.80:    - Perigee / Apogee  348 x 361 km    - Inclination  51.64°    - Period  91.63 min Undocking date - time  25 Mar 2009 - 19:53 UT Deorbit burn date - time  28 Mar 2009 - 18:08:14 UT Landing date - time  28 Mar 2009 - 19:13:17 UT Landing location  KSC, runway 15 Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  12d 19h 30m Nbr orbits  202 Landing crew Wakata replaced by Magnus (STS-126)

Launch Crew

Backup Crew Nr. Name Job 7  Noguchi, Soichi  Flight Engineer

Mission details:

• Discovery was launched on Mar 15, 2009 on mission ISS 15A ITS-S6, with solid rocket motor set RSRM-103 and external tank ET-127. The OMS-2 burn at 0022 UTC on Mar 16 raised the orbit from 57 x 223 km to 156 x 223 km.
• The launch was scrubbed several times because of Shuttle problems in general with hydrogen flow control valves and then due to a leak in a liquid hydrogen vent line between the shuttle and the external tank. The result was the renounce of a planned fourth EVA during this mission, because the following Soyuz mission needed a docking port on the space station.
• Shuttle orbiter has a body diameter of 5.5 metres, length 37.5 metres and a wingspan of 23.8 metres. Mass of the orbiter and cargo at launch was 120,860 kg. Orbiter’s cargo bay carried the segmented starboard truss, S6 (4.97 x 13.87 x 8.01 metres, mass 14,089 kg), with the final set of solar panels to be installed on ISS. Once installed, ISS has enough power to maintain a crew of six people in orbit on a permanent basis.
• Following a two day solo flight Discovery docked with the PMA-2 port on ISS/Harmony Mar 17 at 21:20 UT. Common work with the ISS expedition 18. Transfer Wakata to ISS and Magnus to the STS-119-crew. The main goal of this mission was to deliver the S6 solar arrays to the ISS, completing the construction of the Integrated Truss Structure.
• The STS-119 payload bay contains the large S6 truss element with a set of solar arrays. The full payload bay contents is:

    STS-119 cargo manifest
    ----------------------
  
    Name                             Bay location   Mass (kg,guess)
  
    Orbiter Docking System           1-2            1800
     with EMU 3017, 3006 suits                       260?
    APC/SPDU                         3 port           17?
    S6                               3-13          14088  
    RMS 202                          Sill            410
    OBSS                             Sill            382?
   ------------------------------------------------------
                                     Cargo total  16957 kg
  

• S6 was unberthed from the payload bay Mar 18 at 16:09 UT.
  
  

  Traditional in-flight photo

  EVA Swanson

  
  
• First EVA by Swanson and Arnold on Mar 19, 2009 (6h 07m), in EMU spacesuits 3017 and 3006. They made a spacewalk from the Quest module to supervise the mating of the S6 truss segment to the end of the S5 segment on ISS. After Canadarm2 released S6 and moved away, the spacewalkers plugged in power and data cables to connect the new hardware. S6 made contact with S5 at 1817 UTC and was bolted in place by 1906 UTC. The EVA began with airlock depress at 1712 UTC, hatch open at 1715, hatch close at 2320, and repress at 2323.
• Four small fabric thermal covers about 0.5m across were manually jettisoned at 2223-2230 UTC. On Mar 20, the solar array wings were deployed smoothly from the new truss segment.
• While extension of the new solar array wings originally was scheduled for Flight Day 8, the decision that no focused inspection of Discovery′s heat shield was needed had freed up time in the flight plan to complete the deployment on Flight Day 6.
  

  Acaba with Puerto Rican Flag aboard STS-119

  
  
• The second spacewalk on Mar 21 (6h 30m) was less successful, with Swanson and Joe Acaba (in suits 3017 and 3005) failing to deploy the UCCAS-1 payload attachment platform from the P3 truss. The astronauts were in a depressurized environment from 1647 to 2321 UTC, with hatch open/close at 1650 to 2316.
  First task during this spacewalk was to prepare a worksite for new batteries that will be brought up on the STS-127 mission. They loosened bolts, installed foot restraints. Swanson installed a Global Positioning System antenna on the pressurized logistics module attached to the Kibo laboratory. They photographed areas of radiator panels extended from the Port 1 and Starboard 1 trusses and reconfigured connectors at a patch panel on the Zenith 1 truss that power Control Moment Gyroscopes. After struggling with a pin that kept an Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attachment System (UCCAS) from fully deploying, they tied UCCAS safely in place.
  
  

  EVA Acaba

  2e EVA Acaba

  
  
• Flight day 8 was mostly used for a free day, although work on the Urine Processor Assembly continued and they had to avoid a piece of orbital debris (from a former Chinese satellite).
• Third EVA by Arnold and Acaba on 23.03.2009 (6h 27m) to move one of the station′s two Crew and Equipment and Translation Aid - or CETA - carts. The carts were moved to the port side of the station′s truss during the previous mission to give the robotic arm's mobile transporter the best possible access to the starboard truss for the installation of the new truss segment and solar arrays. With that work done, one of the carts was moved back to the station′s port side, leaving a cart for use on either side of the truss. The CETA-cart also got a new coupler. The EVA also included lubricating the end effector capture snares on the station′s robot arm - similar to what was done to the other end on an STS-126 spacewalk in late 2008. This has been proven to prevent the snare from snagging or not returning snugly into its groove inside the latching mechanism. Hatch open/close was from 1536 to 2200 UTC.
• They were unable to deploy the Port 3 unpressurized cargo carrier attachment system (UCCAS). They secured the UCCAS in place until engineers can evaluate the problem. Mission Control cancelled the installation of a similar payload attachment system on the starboard side.
• On Flight day 11 they hat a press conference with President Obama, students and members of the Congress. They also handled final transfers from Discovery to the ISS.
  
  

  ISS after STS-119

  STS in orbit

  
  
• Due of bad weather at Cape Canaveral (KSC) the landing was delayed for one orbit.
• The orbiter undocked from ISS Mar 25 at 19:53 UT: the OMS de-orbit burn started Mar 28 at 18:08 UT and the orbiter landed at the Kenned Space Center at 1913:17 UT.
  
  

  Landing STS-119

  
  

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel KSC. Credit: J. Vd Dr.

Landing cancel KSC. Credit: J. Vd Dr.