STS-133

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  37371 / 11008A Launch date - time  24 Feb 2011 - 21:53 UT Launch site  KSC, LC-39A Launch vehicle  Space Shuttle Orbiter  Discovery #39 Primary payload  PMM (Leonardo) & ELC 4 Mass (kg)  2 052 605 kg Docking date - time  26 Feb 2011 - 19:14 UT Target spacecraft/port  ISS/Harmony PMA-2 adapter Earth orbit on Feb 26.71:    - Perigee / Apogee  349 x 354 km    - Eccentricity  0.0004    - Inclination  51.65°    - Period  91.57 min Undocking date - time  07 Mar 2011 - 12:00 UT Landing date - time  09 Mar 2011 - 16:57 UT Landing location  KSC runway 15 Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  12d 19h 04m (12.794 days) Nbr orbits  202 Landing crew  launch crew

Robonaut path

Crew

Comments:

With the arrival of Discovery at the International Space Station on 26 February 2011, all the station's docking ports were for the first time occupied by spacecrafts representing the major contributors to the program. On this computer-generated view, Discovery is docked on PMA-2 (left) and the Japanese HTV-2 cargo craft on the Harmony’s zenith port (top, near Discovery head). Under the station (center), there are the Soyuz TMA-20 crew transport ship and the Progress M-09M cargo ship docked respectively on Rassvet and Poisk Russian ports. At the rear of the station (right), there is the European cargo ship ATV-2 and, on top of the station, the crew transport ship Soyuz TMA-01M. This was the only time in the ISS program that transport ships from all participating nations are present at the same time. (The other major contributor, Canada, which do not provide any transport ship, is represented on this view by its Canadarm2 robot arm, at the right of the HTV-2.)

Mission details:

• May 2010: In the Vehicle Assembly Building, solid rocket motors RSRM-112 are being stacked on the launch platform while external tank ET-137 is being prepared nearby, and next door, in Orbiter Processing Facility 3 (OPF 3), OV-103 Discovery is being kitted out for mission STS-133 which will probably fly late this year.
• The launch of space shuttle Discovery had to be srcubbed for several times. Target launche date was November 1, 2010. On November 02, 2010 while readying Discovery for launch, engineers reported an electrical issue on the backup Main Engine Controller (MEC) mounted on Engine No. 3 (SSME-3). On November 05, 2010 Discovery's launch attempt, a hydrogen leak was detected at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) during the fueling process. Additional inspection of the tank then revealed cracks in foam insulation in the flange between the intertank and liquid Oxygen tank. The insulation was cut away for additional inspection revealing two additional 9-inch metal cracks on either side of an underlying structural rib called "stringer S-7-2". NASA managers then decided to cut away additional foam and observed two more cracks on a stringer known as S-6-2 adjacent to the two original cracks. They were found on the far left of removed foam on the flange area between the intertank and the liquid Oxygen tank. However these cracks appeared to had suffered less stress than the originally found. Scanning of the stringers on the Liquid Oxygen/Intertank flange was completed on November 23, 2010.
• Fueling process on December 17, 2010 saw no problems. But for final tests, NASA directors decided a complete Rollback. The new launch date was set for not earlier than February 3, 2011. On January 6, 2011, NASA managers decided to give engineers additional time to assess external tank cracks and repair scenarios. The launch was delayed for not earlier than February 24, 2011.
• On January 15, 2011 Timothy Kopra was injured in a bicycle accident. He was replaced by Stephen Bowen on January 19, 2011.
• Space Shuttle Discovery was launched on Feb 24, 2011 on mission STS-133. Discovery's main cargo is Leonardo, the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM), a cargo storage unit to be added to the station. The ELC-4 logistics carrier is also aboard.
  
  

  STS with cargo in payload bay

  Shuttle seen from ISS

  Crew on board ISS

  
  
• Discovery docked with the Station at 1914 UTC on Feb 26, 2011. Joint operations with the ISS expedition 26. On Feb 27, Barratt and Stott used the station’s robotic arm to pluck Express Logistic Carrier 4 (ELC-4) from the shuttle cargo bay and hand it off to the shuttle’s arm. After moving the base of Canadarm 2, the shuttle arm was to hand ELC-4 back for installation on the Earth-facing side of the station’s starboard truss. ELC-4 carries spare parts for station external systems.
• On Feb 28 astronauts Bowen and Drew made a first spacewalk (6h 34m) from the Quest airlock to install a power cable between the Unity and Tranquility modules and move the failed Pump Module S/N 0002 from the mobile base system (where it was stashed during a previous spacewalk) to a longer term home on the ELC-2 carrier, freeing up the MBS attachment point to be used for other things. They also adjusted the track system for the Mobile Transporter so that it can move the robot arm down further along the S3 segment than before. The airlock was depressurized at 1541 UTC and repressurized at 2220 UTC; hatch open/close was 1546 to 2215 UTC.
  
  

  EVA Drew

  EVA Bowen

  
  
• On March 01, 2011 Mike Barratt and Nicole Stott inched the 58-foot-long space station robotic arm SSRMS onto a grapple fixture on the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM). The arm lift the fully-loaded 28,353 pound PMM from space shuttle Discovery's cargo bay and carry it to the Earth-facing nadir port on the Unity module between 1346 and 1505 UTC, where it will be permanently attached.
• On Mar 2 Drew and Bowen again used Quest to second EVA (6h 14m), depressurizing it at 1535 UTC, and opening the hatch at 1541 UTC. Among other tasks they vented the failed Pump Module, retreived the LWAPA experiment support plate from Columbus and stowed it in the Shuttle payload bay, installed a camera on the Dextre arm, adjusted a camera sunshade and added a lighting system on the truss, and relocated the Strela adapter to the Zarya module from PMA3, where it had been stowed since 2006; the adapter was launched on STS-96 in 1999.
  
  

  Two spectacular views of the International Space Station following Discovery departure.

  
  
• Discovery undocked from the PMA-2 adapter on the Harmony module at 1200 UTC on Mar 7, reducing the station's crew complement from 12 to 6. The spaceship made its 39th and final landing on runway 15 of Kennedy Space Center at 1657 UTC on Mar 9.
  Total time in orbit is just over 365 days in 39 flights from 1984 to 2011.

Landing STS-133

STS-133 after mission

External links:

• AmericaSpace: Remembering Discovery′s Final Launch.

Astrophilately covers:

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

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