Category Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006

Flight Crew

MATTINGLY, Thomas Kenneth, 48, USN, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: Apollo 16 (1972); STS-4 (1982)

SHRIVER, Loren James, 40 USAF, pilot ONIZUKA, Ellison Shoji, 38, USAF, mission specialist 1 BUCHLI, James Frederick, 39, USMC, mission specialist 2 PAYTON, Gary Eugene, 36, USAF, payload specialist

Flight Log

This mission was originally to have been designated STS-10 and to have flown in January 1984. When it finally got to the launch pad as STS 51-C (originally designated STS-20), it was assigned to orbiter Discovery, rather than Challenger, which was suffering a rather disturbing tile problem. The assignment of Discovery to the mission caused a disruption to the 1985 Shuttle schedules. Although a classified military mission, press leaks resulted in most people knowing full well what the STS 51-C crew would be doing: deploying a geostationary electronic monitoring satellite on an IUS upper stage. It was also unique in that it carried the first military specialist passenger, Gary Payton, from a cadre of US Air Force Manned Space Flight Engineers, most of whom it was anticipated at the time would fly on later military Shuttle missions.

The launch of STS 51-C was delayed by one day by the coldest weather in memory at the KSC and was quite spectacular a day later at 14: 50 hrs. The countdown had not been announced until T — 9 minutes under new rules for military launches, although observers could tell it was in progress a lot earlier by seeing wisps of liquid oxygen coming off the ET. Discovery entered a 28.4° inclination orbit with a maximum altitude of 341 km (212 miles). Trouble with the IUS on the STS-6 mission had been the main reason for this mission’s delay, and after the Acquacade ELINT (electronic

signals intelligence satellite) had been deployed, the IUS misbehaved again, its first stage thrust shortfall being made up by thruster firings.

Discovery also carried a blood flow experiment but little else was officially reported about the mission, which ended after the shortest five-crew flight of just T + 3 days 1 hour 23 minutes 13 seconds on runway 15 at the KSC.

Milestones

103rd manned space flight

46th US manned space flight

15th Shuttle mission

3rd flight of Discovery

1st US classified manned military mission

1st flight of a Military Spaceflight Engineer (MSE – Payton)

Flight Crew

WILLIAMS, Donald Edward, 47, USN, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 51-D (1985)

MCCULLEY, Michael James, 46, USN, pilot

LUCID, Shannon Wells, 46, civilian, mission specialist 1, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 51-G (1985)

CHANG-DIAZ, Franklin Ramon, 39, civilian, mission specialist 2, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 61-C (1986)

BAKER, Ellen Schulman, 36, civilian, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

During an extraordinary week in May 1986, two Space Shuttles were to have taken off from both launch pads at the KSC, carrying their Ulysses and Galileo deep space probes, both atop liquid-fuelled Centaur G Prime upper stages. The prospect caused such concern among the astronauts, even before the Challenger disaster, that the flights were dubbed the “Death Star” missions after the Star Wars films. The Challenger accident put paid to such ambitious NASA flight rate plans and resulted in the elimination of the Centaur stage from Shuttles. Galileo and Ulysses were to fly the less powerful solid-propellant IUS upper stages and, instead of taking off six days apart, were to be launched in October 1989 and October 1990 respectively.

Galileo was assigned to the orbiter Atlantis and mission STS-34 with a launch window starting on 12 October and extending well into November if necessary. NASA aimed hopefully for 12 October, having successfully avoided returning Atlantis to the VAB to escape Hurricane Hugo by a whisker. The astronaut crew, including Shannon Lucid and Ellen Baker, the first two-female crew to be launched since October 1984, arrived in good spirits at the KSC on 9 October. They were not in such good spirits flying back to Houston the following day after the launch was cancelled due to a fault in SSME No.2’s main events controller, which had to be replaced.

Atlantis was rescheduled for 17 October and a tight 24 minute planetary launch window. While the crew stared into blue skies, the RTLS Shuttle runway was threatened by a thundercloud and the transatlantic abort sites were also suffering inclement weather. Commander Don Williams took his crew back to their quarters and an attempt the following day seemed destined for more of the same, such were the forecasts. A launch hold was ordered because the orbiter computers had to be reprogrammed for a potential TAL landing at a secondary site due to bad weather at the first, while at the KSC, the weather was perfect for the launch at 12:53 hrs local time, boosted by the first SRBs to use components from previous Shuttle missions since the Challenger disaster.

Once Atlantis had reached its unique 34.30° inclination, with a maximum altitude of 286 km (178 miles), Pad 39B was almost obliterated by thunderstorms. At T + 6 hours 21 minutes, Galileo began its journey to Jupiter, leaving the payload bay on its IUS. It would go backwards to Jupiter via Venus and two Earth fly-bys, one as close as 900 km (559 miles) in December 1990, taking six years to reach its destination.

The flawless departure from the Shuttle, like Magellan’s the previous April, did much to boost NASA’s morale, particularly in light of the criticism of flying these payloads on the Shuttle rather than an ELV and the particular storm in a teacup which brewed over the fact that environmentalists had been concerned about Galileo’s radioactive RTG power system. Such was the ridiculous media hype that local residents near the Cape were led to believe that, had Atlantis gone the same way as Challenger, the effect would have been a nuclear explosion. Adding to the drama was the fact that the IUS control room at a US Air Force facility in Sunnyvale, California was hit by an earthquake just before launch and personnel, some of whom had lost their houses and belongings, were controlling the IUS amid dust and more than a little rubble.

The crew then got to work with film-making using the IMAX camera, medical experiments under the watchful eyes of Dr. Baker, and remote-sensing photography from the unique orbit. Atlantis made a picture perfect touchdown on the dry lake bed runway 23 at Edwards Air Force Base at T + 4 days 23 hours 39 minutes 24 seconds. By the time Galileo soared past Venus in February 1990, two Shuttle flights later, STS-34 was but a statistic on the flight manifest.

Galileo had a long and troubled journey to Jupiter and at times it looked as though the spacecraft might not succeed at all thanks to difficulties with unfurling the antenna. Finally, on 7 December 1995, the probe entered Jovian orbit. The probe had flown past Venus on 10 February 1990, Earth and the Moon on 8 December 1990, and the asteroid Gaspra on 29 October 1991, before returning to the vicinity of Earth and the Moon for a second time on 8 December 1992, passing the asteroid Ida on 28 August 1993, and taking historic images of Comet Shoemaker-Levy striking Jupiter during July 1994. The probe was released on 13 July 1995 and entered the upper atmospheric cloud layers of the planet on 7 December 1995, the same day that the main spacecraft entered orbit. The primary mission (orbits 1-11) ran from January 1996 through December 1997. This was followed by the Europa phase between December 1997 and December 1999 (orbits 12-25), and finally an extended mission phase. A decade after leaving Earth, the Galileo mission continued to rewrite the text books on the largest planet in our solar system. Mostly forgotten was the short mission of STS-34, another mission that blended unmanned and manned space exploration into one programme.

Milestones

128th manned space flight 61st US manned space flight 31st Shuttle mission 5th flight of Atlantis

2nd Shuttle planetary deployment mission

Flight Crew

GRABE, Ronald John, 46, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS 51-J (1985); STS-30 (1989)

OSWALD, Stephen Scott, 40, civilian, pilot

THAGARD, Norman Earl, 48, civilian, mission specialist 1, payload commander, 4th mission

Previous missions: STS-7 (1985); STS 51-B (1985); STS-30 (1989)

READDY, William Francis, 39, civilian, mission specialist 2 HILMERS, David Carl, 41, USMC, mission specialist 3, 4th mission Previous missions: STS 51-J (1985); STS-26 (1988); STS-36 (1990)

BONDAR, Roberta Lynn, 46, civilian, Canadian payload specialist 1 MERBOLD, Ulf Dietrich, 50, civilian, ESA payload specialist 2, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-9 (1983)

Flight Log

As Discovery landed at Edwards AFB in California at the end of the IML-1 mission, the crew were told that their mission had provided a preview of both space station operations and the kind of international cooperation that would be part of future space exploration. As a new Russia emerged from the turmoil of the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Freedom Space Station was itself struggling to survive. But there was a glimmer of hope in the potential cooperation of the Russians in the future programme. However, there was still much to be done on Earth before any hardware would fly in space, but the mission of STS-42 and the first flight of the International Microgravity Laboratory had demonstrated that such cooperation was feasible.

Both the launch and landing of Discovery passed without incident, apart from a one-hour delay to the launch to evaluate indications of power surges from one of the fuel cells. With the vehicle cleared for launch, and safely on orbit just over an hour later, Shuttle operations in 1992 opened with one of the most successful Spacelab missions of all. With the crew operating in two shifts for round-the-clock activity (Red – Readdy, Hilmers, Merbold; Blue – Grabe, Oswald, Thagard, Bondar), opera­tions primarily focused on the adaptation of the human nervous system to low gravity and on the effects of microgravity on other life forms. These included shrimp eggs, lentil seedlings, fruit fly eggs and bacteria. There was also a programme of materials processing experiments, including crystal growth from a range of substances such as enzymes, mercury iodide and a virus. The secondary payloads carried included twelve GAS canisters attached to a GAS Bridge Assembly in the payload bay. This contained numerous US and international experiments, ranging from materials processing to investigations into the development of animal life in weightlessness.

The IML experiment programme was a cooperative effort between the space agencies of the United States (NASA), Europe (ESA), Canada (CSA), France

(CNES), Germany (DARA) and Japan (NASDA). The GAS experiments also origin­ated from multiple countries (Australia, China, Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, Sweden and the United States). There were also two student experiments flown, as well as the IMAX large-format camera and a package of on-going small mid-deck experiments. In all, over 200 scientists from sixteen countries participated in the flight and investigation programme.

Though minor problems occurred, they were all overcome with no adjustments to the flight plan, nor loss of science results. On 24 January, the Mir space station passed within 39 nautical miles of Discovery and the crew reported that the sunlight reflecting off the station looked as bright as planet Mercury when seen after sunset from Earth. On board Discovery, Thagard observed the Russian space station that he would live aboard just three years later. Towards the end of the flight, mission managers concluded that the crew had conserved their consumables so well that they would be able to stay an extra day in orbit to continue their science experiment programme.

IML-1 was the first of a series of four or five such flights that were envisaged over a ten-year period (one flight every two years), dedicated to the study of life and materials sciences and providing important data for planning and executing follow-on research on Space Station Freedom. Such was the success of IML-1 that the prospect of international cooperation on Freedom looked assured, even if the programme itself was floundering due to complexity and cost. Ironically, the revised ISS programme would signal the demise of Spacelab missions due to limited resources. The IML series was reduced from a ten-year programme to just two missions.

Milestones

147th manned space flight

75th US manned space flight

45th Shuttle mission

14th flight of Discovery

1st flight of IML configuration

5th flight of Spacelab Long Module

Readdy celebrates his 40th birthday in space (24 Jan)

Hilmers celebrates his 42nd birthday in space (28 Jan)

1st female Canadian in space (Bondar)

Flight Crew

CULBERTSON Jr., Frank Lee, 44, USN, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-38 (1990)

READDY, William Francis, civilian, pilot, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-42 (1992)

NEWMAN, James Hansen, 36, civilian, mission specialist 1 BURSCH, Daniel Wheeler, 36, USN, mission specialist 2 WALZ, Carl Erwin, 38, USAF, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

The original launch attempt on 17 July was scrubbed during the T — 20 minute hold due to premature and unexplained charging of pyrotechnic initiator controllers on the LH vent arm umbilical and the SRB hold-down bolts. The problem was traced to a faulty control card on the Mobile Launch Platform (MLP). After an abbreviated countdown which commenced on 23 July, the 24 July launch attempt was halted at T — 19 seconds due to problems with the APU turbine assembly in one of the two hydraulic power units on the right SRB. The APUs were replaced on the pad. The launch was rescheduled for 4 August and again for 12 August because of concerns over the Perseid meteor shower which was due to peak on 11 August. The 12 August attempt was aborted at the T — 3 second mark due to a faulty sensor which was monitoring fuel flow on SSME #2. This resulted in the fourth pad abort in the programme and the second of 1993. All three engines were subsequently changed out on the pad. The launch was then scheduled for 10 September, but following loss of

communications with the Mars Observer spacecraft and the NOAA-123 satellite, NASA slipped the launch 48 hours in order to review the design, production and testing of ACTS prior to committing it to launch and deployment.

The ACTS was successfully deployed during FD 1 and, some 45 minutes after leaving the payload bay of Discovery, the TOS was fired to take the satellite towards its geostationary operational orbit. The second deployment of the mission came on FD 2, when ORFEUS-SPAS was released by RMS for six days of independent data collection, the first of a planned series of ASTRO-SPAS missions. The SPAS also carried the IMAX camera, which recorded spectacular images of Discovery flying in orbit both during release and recapture of the pallet satellite.

As ACTS was being checked out in its geosynchronous orbit and ORFEUS was away gathering data, the crew of Discovery settled down to their own science programme of payload bay and mid-deck experiments. These included the exposure to space of selected materials for a short duration, protein crystal growth, chromo­some and plant cell division, high-resolution Shuttle glow spectrograph photography of the aurora, an investigation into polymer membranes processing, further calibra­tion of the Air Force Maui Optical Site and radiation monitoring inside the crew compartment. The crew also continued the programme of Earth resources and phenomena observations.

On FD 5 (16 Sep), Walz (EV1) and Newman (EV2) performed the third and final generic EVA (7 hours 5 minutes) to evaluate tools, tethers, foot restraints and mobil­ity. Part of this programme was connected to the forthcoming Hubble Service Mission manifested for STS-61. This time the RMS was not used to support the EVA, because it was needed later in the flight to retrieve ORFEUS-SPAS. This also provided a “minimum equipment scenario”, with the crew making optimum use of materials already aboard for other purposes. This could prove essential for a mission requiring EVA where no RMS was available.

The landing of STS-51 on 21 September was called off due to the possibility of rain showers within 48 km of the SLF. Discovery eventually came home to the first end-of – mission night landing at the Cape.

Milestones

163rd manned space flight

87th US manned space flight

57th Shuttle mission

17th flight of Discovery

28th US and 52nd flight with EVA operations

1st use of Transfer Orbit Stage

1st end of mission night landing at KSC

3rd and final test and demonstration EVA

Flight Crew

CAMERON, Kenneth Donald, 45, USMC, commander, 3rd mission Previous mission: STS-37 (1991); STS-56 (1993)

HALSELL Jr., James Donald, 39, USAF, pilot, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-65 (1994)

HADFIELD, Chris Austin, 36, Canadian Air Force, mission specialist 1 ROSS, Jerry Lynn, 47, USAF, mission specialist 2, 5th mission Previous missions: STS 61-B (1985); STS-27 (1988); STS-37 (1991); STS-55 (1993)

McARTHUR Jr., William Surles, 44, US Army, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

Because of the planned rendezvous and docking with Mir, this Shuttle mission had only a very small seven-minute window in which to launch. The 11 November launch was scrubbed as a result of bad weather at the TAL sites and the launch was rescheduled to the following day. The original plan had been to have a crew exchange on this mission. Thagard’s back-up on the first NASA residency (Bonnie Dunbar) was originally scheduled to remain on Mir after STS-71 departed, but this option was not followed, so STS-74 was the only docking mission on which no US astronaut was exchanged or returned. Instead, the mission focused on the delivery of hardware and logistics. It did feature an international flavour, however, reflecting the plans for ISS in the coming years. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield was part of the Shuttle crew, and the Canadian-developed RMS was carried once more. The payload bay of Atlantis carried the Russian-built Docking Module and solar array, along with the US-built Orbiter Docking System and a joint US/Russian-built solar array. And of course, on board Mir were the two Russian and one German cosmonaut, together with a range of Russian and European equipment and experiments.

The Russian Docking Module (which, when permanently attached to the Kristall module would give better clearance for further Shuttle dockings) was lifted out of the payload bay by Hadfield, who was operating the RMS. It was positioned just above the Orbiter Docking System, carried on all docking flights at the front of the payload bay to permit physical connection between the Shuttle and the space station. Cameron then fired the downward-facing jets on the Shuttle to move the vehicle “up” to dock, with the Docking Module held on the RMS. The docking between the Docking Module on Atlantis and Mir occurred on FD 4 and for the next three days, the crews of Atlantis and Mir completed a joint programme of activities. This included the transfer of the control of the DM to the main Mir crew. There was also 453.6 kg of water transferred across to the station, along with gifts such as Canadian maple leaf candies and the second guitar to be delivered to the station. New lithium hydroxide canisters were also delivered, which would be used in the event of a further failure of the ECS, requiring further “scrubbing” of the air inside the station. Experiment samples were transferred to Atlantis for the return to Earth and on 18 November, Atlantis separated from the DM to begin its fly around of the station and the journey home, leaving the Mir crew to continue their six-month mission.

In January 1996, NASA pronounced itself happy with the success of Shuttle-Mir missions. Continued discussions with the Russians had resulted in expansion of the programme and two further dockings were included in the Phase 1 programme, bringing the total dockings to nine. Two further long-duration visits by American astronauts were also likely, bringing the total US residencies on the station to seven prior to the commencement of ISS construction.

Milestones

184th manned space flight 103rd US manned space flight 73rd Shuttle mission 15th flight of Atlantis 2nd Shuttle-Mir docking mission

Flight Crew

SEARFOSS, Richard Alan, 41, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-58 (1993); STS-76 (1996)

AFTMAN, Scott Douglas, 38, USN, pilot

FINNEHAN, Richard Michael, 41, civilian, mission specialist 1, payload commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-78 (1996)

HIRE, Kathryn Patricia, 38, USN, mission specialist 2 WIFFIAMS, Dafydd Rhys, civilian, Canadian, mission specialist 3 BUCKFEY Jr., Jay Clark, 41, civilian, payload specialist 1 PAWEFCZYK, James Anthony, 37, civilian, payload specialist 2

Flight Log

The launch of Neurolab was delayed by 24 hours from 16 April due to problems with one of the two network processors aboard Columbia. These format data and voice communications between the Shuttle and the ground and the unit had to be replaced. The payload for this mission was the final flight of the Spacelab Fong Module, which had first flown in 1983. The science programme it contained was designated Neurolab, and included 26 experiments grouped together to form one of the most extensive investigations into the most complex and least understood part of the human body – the nervous system. The primary objective of this research was to expand our under­standing of how the nervous system develops and functions in microgravity and for such a comprehensive research programme, the test subjects included more than just the seven astronauts. Making the journey with the human crew were rats, mice, crickets, snails and two species of fish.

This mission had its origins in 1991, when NASA proposed a mission to con­tribute to the “Decade of the Brain”. A total of 132 experiment proposals were reduced to 32, with 26 flying on STS-90 and the remaining six reassigned to later

As American residency on Mir draws to a close, so too does another aspect of the Shuttle programme – Spacelab. On 12 February 1998, the Neurolab payload in the Spacelab Long Module is lowered into the cargo bay of Columbia in OPF Bay 1 at KSC. This was the final flight of the European-built Spacelab module system, first flown as Spacelab 1 in November 1983. There had been 16 Spacelab Long Module missions between 1983 and 1998 missions. The research programme covered eight areas. Adult neuronal plasticity studied the ability of neurons to react to different conditions (in this case micro­gravity) to make new connections in new ways, allowing the neurosystem to compensate for the new environment. This programme used rats as the test subjects. Mammalian development research utilised the rats and mice to answer key questions such as “Can walking be learned without gravity?” Aquatic experiments studied the effects of microgravity on otoliths and statolith development and adaptation in oyster toadfish, swordtail fish and freshwater snails. Neurology research on crickets was used to help understand how much normal development is pre-programmed in the genes and how much requires clues from the environment. The remaining studies, which were carried out by the human crew, included investigations into the autonomic nervous system, sleep, vestibular experiments and sensory, motor and performance studies.

Neurolab was activated 1 hour 45 minutes into the mission. The crew followed a single-shift system, with the science crew participating in or activating most of the experiments while the orbiter crew looked after the spacecraft and its systems. The orbiter crew (commander, pilot and MS2/flight engineer) assisted the science crew as required throughout the mission. This was an international, mission with cooperation between NASA and the space agencies of Canada (CSA), France (CNES) and Germany (DARA) as well as the European Space agency (ESA) and the National Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). Most of the research was conducted as planned, except for the mammalian development studies, which were prioritised due to the unexpectedly high mortality rate of the neo-natal rats aboard (55 of the 96 nine – day-old rodents died).

A week into the mission, the crew worked with engineers on the ground to overcome a problem with a system valve in the Regenerative Carbon Dioxide Removal System, which threatened to cut short the flight. A decision to extend the mission was considered, but when the science community indicated that this was not necessary, and with weather conditions expected to deteriorate after the scheduled 3 May landing, the mission was ended as planned after 16 days. It was the end of a highly successful mission, but also of the Spacelab Long Module series.

Milestones

206th manned space flight 120th US manned space flight 90th Shuttle mission 25th flight of Columbia

16th and final flight of Spacelab Long Module 13th and final EDO mission

Flight Crew

PRECOURT, Charles Joseph, 43, USAF, commander, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-55 (1993); STS-71 (1995); STS-84 (1997)

GORIE, Dominic Lee Pudwill, 41, USN, pilot CHANG-DIAZ, Franklin Ramon de Los Angeles, 48, civilian, mission specialist 1, 6th mission

Previous missions: STS 61-C (1986); STS-34 (1989); STS-46 (1992); STS-60 (1994); STS-75 (1996)

LAWRENCE, Wendy Barrien, 38, mission specialist 2, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-67 (1995); STS-86 (1997)

KAVANDI, Janet Lynn, mission specialist 3

RYUMIN, Valery Viktorovich, 58, civilian, Russian, mission specialist 4, 4th mission

Previous missions: Soyuz 25 (1977); Soyuz 32 (1979); Soyuz 35 (1980) NASA 7 Mir EO-25 resident down only:

THOMAS, Andrew Sydney Withiel, 46, civilian, mission specialist 5,

Mir EO-25 cosmonaut researcher, NASA board engineer 7, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-77 (1996)

Flight Log

Apart from a slight delay in tanking operations, the launch of the final Shuttle mission to Mir proceeded nominally. This was the first docking mission for Discovery, which successfully joined the space station on 4 June. The hatches were opened on the same day and Thomas transferred to the Shuttle crew, ending 130 days of residency on Mir. Prior to his residency, Thomas had been criticised by the Russians for his limited ability to speak the language, but with Russian being the only language spoken on

Mir, he soon became well versed. With the transfer of Thomas to the Discovery crew, a total of 907 days had been logged by the seven resident astronauts aboard Mir. In addition, there had been a US presence in space for 812 consecutive days and on Mir for 802 consecutive days.

During the four days of joint operations, the crews transferred 500 kg of water and a further 2,130 kg of experiments and supplies. US long-term experiments were also moved back into Discovery or the SpaceHab module from the station. The Shuttle crew completed a range of secondary experiments during docked activ­ities. Although he was part of the Shuttle crew, cosmonaut Valery Ryumin, who had spent about a year aboard the Salyut 6 station on two six-month missions in 1979 and 1980, was aboard to evaluate the state of the station and, according to NASA, to confirm the station’s condition for mothballing and decommissioning. Instead, he indicated that it was still viable for future operations. One of the less publicised “experiments’’ was the transfer of a stowed American EMU through the smaller opening of the Orbiter Docking System (ODS), a process which would become a regular operation on ISS. The EMU are normally bundled in a Lower Torso Assem­bly Restraint Bag (LTARB) for ease of handling, but during ground tests, it was found that it took less time to simply stow the gear and clear a path through loose equipment around the connecting hatches. With no high-fidelity mock-ups on Earth, it was useful to try this method aboard an actual station in space. The information gained would be valuable in planning such transfers on ISS.

After the joint programme had been completed the hatches were sealed and the spacecraft separated on 8 June, marking the final Shuttle docking mission and the conclusion of Phase 1 of the ISS programme. It was now time to move toward the assembly missions for ISS later in the year.

Over the preceding six years, considerable hurdles had been overcome, differences ironed out and a strong partnership formed. This resulted in ten missions and nine dockings to the Mir complex, the residence of seven astronauts on Mir and training for five cosmonauts to fly on the Shuttle. The difficulties, and at times dangers, of long – duration flight were quickly learned by the Americans – something the Russians had been aware of for years. For the Russians, their learning curve was in accepting an international cooperative partner beyond the former Soviet Bloc countries and friend­ship agreements. The Shuttle (and American money) gave the aging Mir station a prolonged life and Mir gave NASA the experience in space station operations it badly needed before committing to ISS operations. Lessons had been learned the hard way at times, but they were essential lessons. Without Shuttle-Mir, the ISS programme would have been much harder to initiate.

Milestones

207th manned space flight

121st US manned space flight

91st Shuttle mission

24th flight of Discovery

9th and final Shuttle-Mir docking mission

11th SpaceHab mission (6th single module)

1st docking mission for Discovery

1st user of super-lightweight ET

Completion of ISS Phase 1 programme

Flight Crew

GORIE, Dominic Lee, 44, USN, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-91 (1998); STS-99 (2000)

KELLY, Mark Edward, 37, USN, pilot

GODWIN, Linda Maxine, 49, civilian, mission specialist 1, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-37 (1991); STS-59 (1994); STS-76 (1996)

TANI, Daniel Michio, 40, civilian, mission specialist 2

ISS-4 crew up only:

ONUFRIYENKO, Yuri Ivanovich, 40, Russian Air Force, mission specialist 4, ISS-4 and Soyuz TM commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz TM23 (1996)

BURSCH, Daniel Wheeler, 44, USN, mission specialist 5, ISS-4 flight engineer 1, 4th mission

Previous missions: STS-51 (1993); STS-68 (1994); STS-77 (1996)

WALZ, Carl Erwin, 46, USAF, mission specialist 5, ISS-4 flight engineer 2,

4th mission

Previous missions: STS-51 (1993); STS-65 (1994); STS-79 (1996)

ISS-3 crew down only:

CULBERTSON Jr., Frank Lee, 52, civilian, ISS-3 commander,

mission specialist 3, 3rd mission

Previous missions: STS-38 (1990); STS-51 (1993)

TYURIN, Mikhail Vladislavovich, 41, civilian, Russian ISS-3 flight engineer, mission specialist 4

DEZHUROV, Vladimir Nikolayevich, 39, Russian Air Force, ISS-3 Soyuz commander, mission specialist 5, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz TM21 (1995)

Flight Log

Originally scheduled for launch on 3 December, the launch was postponed for 24 hours on 29 November in order the allow the ISS-3 crew to complete an extra unplanned EVA to clear the obstruction preventing Progress M1-7 from hard – docking with the station. The 4 December launch was postponed at the T — 5 minute point due to unfavourable weather in the KSC area, which remained throughout the duration of the launch window. After the successful launch, Endeavour docked to ISS during FD 3 (7 December) and remained linked to the station for the next 189 hours. There was one EVA, which was conducted by Godwin and Tani from the Shuttle airlock (instead of Quest) on FD 6. During the EVA (10 Dec for 4 hours 12 minutes), the astronauts installed insulation on the solar array rotation mechanism and retrieved antenna covers that had been stowed in a storage location on the outside of the station for return to Earth, and which may be returned for reuse on the station at a future date. They also performed a number of get-ahead tasks for the extensive EVAs planned for the coming year.

The flight was extended to 12 days in order to complete all the assigned main­tenance and logistics transfer tasks assigned it. During several days of logistics

transfer, the combined crew moved over 2,700 kg from the mid-deck of Endeavour and the Raffaello logistics module on to the station. This included over 385 kg of food, 453 kg of clothing, 136 kg of experiments and associated equipment, 362 kg of EVA hardware, and 272 kg of medical equipment. Over 900 kg of trash, unwanted gear and equipment was placed in the module for return to Earth, and in addition to the exchange of ISS resident crew personal items, the mid-deck of Endeavour was used for the return of several experiment results and samples from the research conducted during the ISS-3 residency. There were also several experiments conducted in the mid­deck of Endeavour during the mission, some of which would be transferred to the station while the others would return on the Shuttle.

While in orbit, the combined crew of astronauts and cosmonauts took time out to pay tribute to the victims of the 11 September attacks in the United States and the rescuers and investigation teams still working on the aftermath of the tragic day.

The official hand-over between ISS resident crews occurred on 13 December amid a week of briefings and exchange activities. One of the three Shuttle Inertial Measurement Units (IMU-2), the orbiter’s primary navigation units, experienced a problem on 12 December and was taken offline. Only two of the units were working at the time to save electricity, so IMU-3 was brought back on line to support operations. The failed unit worked after this exchange but remained off line for the rest of the flight without impact upon the mission. Prior to return to Earth after undocking from the station, the crew deployed a small satellite (Starshine 2) from a GAS canister located in the payload bay. It was estimated that over 30,000 students from 650 schools in 26 countries would track the satellite during its eight months orbiting the Earth.

Milestones

229th manned space flight

137th US manned space flight

107th Shuttle mission

17th flight of Endeavour

51st US and 84th flight with EVA operations

12th Shuttle ISS mission

4th Endeavour ISS mission

4th MPLM flight

2nd MPLM-2 Raffaello flight

1st utilisation flight