STS-121

Flight Crew

LINDSEY, Steven Wayne, 45, USAF, commander, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-87 (1997); STS-98 (1998); STS-104 (2001)

KELLY, Mark Edward, 42, USN, pilot, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-108 (2001)

FOSSUM, Michael Edward, 48, civilian, mission specialist 1 NOWAK, Lisa Marie, 43, USN, mission specialist 2 WILSON, Stephanie Diana, 39, civilian, mission specialist 3 SELLERS, Piers John, 51, civilian, mission specialist 4, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-112 (2002)

ISS-13 crewmember up only:

REITER, Thomas, 48, German Air Force, ESA mission specialist 5, ISS-13 flight engineer 2, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz TM22 (1995)

Flight Log

Bad weather again delayed the launch of the Shuttle on 1 and 2 July, but after a one – day stand down, the launch resumed and STS-121 lifted off on America’s 230th birthday, the first launch on Independence Day, Again the launch phase was dram­atically caught on film and analysed for any serious debris impacts, Though some debris hits were noted, there were no serious impacts, Following the docking on 6 July, the crew relocated the Leonardo MPLM to the station, where 3,357 kg of logistics was transferred. This included a new heat exchanger, a new window and window seals for the Microgravity Science Glove Box, a US EMU suit, SAFER jet pack and personal items, and a new oxygen generator to be installed in Destiny, There was also a

European Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for storage of experiment sam­ples prior to return to Earth. The MPLM was relocated back in the payload bay of Discovery on 14 July, by which time it had been filled with 2,086 kg of experiment samples, broken equipment and trash.

Three EVAs by Sellers (EV1) and Fossum (EV2) were completed during the docked phase of the flight. EVA 1 (8 Jul for 7 hours 31 minutes) included fitting a protection device for power, data and video cables on the S0 Truss. By routing cables through the Interface Umbilical Assembly, they could move the MT railcar to replace the trailing umbilical system with its power and data cable that had been inadvertently severed late in 2005. The astronauts then evaluated the RMS with the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, for potential use as a work platform during EVA to repair the damaged orbiter if required. EVA 2 (10 Jul for 6 hours 47 minutes) saw the crew restore the MT to full operation, while EVA 3 (12 Jul for 7 hours 11 minutes) focused on testing repairs on the Thermal Protection System Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panels, part of the evaluation of repair techniques that may be available to effect orbital repairs on future Shuttle missions. Photography of the samples (together with that of an area of Discovery’s port wing) was conducted. These images would be returned to Earth for detailed analysis. The astronauts also relocated a fixed grapple bar on the integrated cargo carrier in the payload bay to a position on the ammonia tank inside the SI Truss assembly, so that it could be moved by a future EVA crew at a later date.

Thomas Reiter had formerly exchanged to the ISS-13 crew shortly after the hatches between the vehicles had opened, moving his Soyuz seat liner into the DM of Soyuz TMA8. The more formal farewells occurred shortly prior to closure of the hatches and undocking of the Shuttle on 15 July. The two spacecraft had been docked for over 9 days, a day longer than planned as the mission was extended by a day to accommodate the third EVA. A final check of the surfaces of Discovery revealed nothing of concern and the safe re-entry and landing two days later gave an added boost to mission planners, eager to resume station construction with the next Shuttle mission.

Milestones

248th manned space flight 145th US manned space flight 115th Shuttle mission 32nd flight of Discovery 18th Shuttle ISS flight

58th US and 97th flight with EVA operations

6th Discovery ISS mission

7th MPLM flight

4th flight of MPLM-1 Leonardo

1st US launch on 4 July