STS-106
Encyclopedia
STS-106 was a Space Shuttle
mission to the International Space Station
(ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis
.
Space Station
assembly flight ISS-2A.2b utilized the SPACEHAB
Double Module and the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) to bring supplies to the station. The mission also included two spacewalks.
Veteran Astronaut Terrence Wilcutt (Col., USMC) lead the seven-man crew, commanding his second Shuttle flight and making his fourth trip into space. During the planned 11-day mission, Wilcutt and his crew mates spent a week inside the ISS unloading supplies from both a double SPACEHAB cargo module in the rear of Atlantis's cargo bay and from a Russian Progress M-1 resupply craft docked to the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module. Zvezda, which linked up to the ISS on 26 July, served as the early living quarters for the station and is the cornerstone of the Russian contribution to the ISS.
The goal of the flight was to prepare Zvezda for the arrival of the first residents, or Expedition, crew later in the fall of 2000 and the start of a permanent human presence on the new outpost. That crew, made up of Expedition Commander Bill Shepherd, Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev, launched on 31 October 2000 in a Soyuz capsule from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a four-month "shakedown" mission aboard the ISS.
On flight day three, Dr. Ed Lu
and Yuri Malenchenko
(Col., Russian Air Force), who were both making their second flights into space, conducted a 6 hour and 14 minute space walk. The spacewalk's objective focused on routing and connecting nine power, data and communications cables between the Zvezda module and the other Russian-built module, Zarya
, as well as installing the six-foot-long magnetometer. The magnetometer will serve as a three-dimensional compass designed to minimize Zvezda propellant usage by relaying information to the module's computers regarding its orientation relative to the Earth.
Lu and Malenchenko used tethers and handrails along the ISS to make their way to a point more than 100 feet above the cargo bay, the farthest any tethered spacewalker has ventured outside the shuttle. They completed this with the assistance of their crewmates Burbank and Mastracchio who deftly maneuvered them around with the robotic arm. This spacewalk celebrates the sixth spacewalk in support of the station assembly and the 50th spacewalk in space shuttle history. Also this was the second joint U.S.-Russian space walk outside a Space Shuttle
, following on the work conducted by Astronaut Scott Parazynski and Cosmonaut Vladimir Titov outside Atlantis while docked to the Mir Space Station during the STS-86
mission in October 1997. Lu, designated EV 1, wore the space suit marked by red stripes, while Malenchenko, EV 2, wore the pure white suit. This was Lu's first space walk, while Malenchenko had conducted a pair of space walks totaling 12 hours during his four-month stay aboard Mir in 1994. Dan Burbank (Lt. Cmdr, USCG), who was a spaceflight rookie, served as the space walk choreographer.
Mission Specialist Rick Mastracchio, also a spaceflight novice, was the prime robot arm operator for the mission, using the Canadian-built arm to move Lu and Malenchenko around the ISS as they conducted their assembly work. Mastracchio is backed up on arm operations by Pilot Scott Altman (Cmdr., USN), making his second flight into space.
The final member of the crew was Russian Cosmonaut Dr. Boris Morukov
, making his first flight into space. Morukov was responsible for unloading supplies from the Progress vehicle during the docked phase of the flight.
On flight day four the crew entered the International Space Station through Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2) to begin the transfer operations of more than three tons of hardware and supplies. Atlantis' crew was the first to see the interior of the Russian Zvezda service module since it was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in July. Additionally, a reboost was performed using the orbiter's Reaction Control System (RCS) to place the station in a higher orbit.
Transfer of supplies and maintenance tasks continued well into the fifth day, while orbiter consumables remained above the required levels allowing managers to extend the mission one additional day.
Activities on flight day five included the installation of three batteries inside Zvezda. In order to reduce the weight for launch, Zvezda was launched with only five of its eight batteries in place.
Lu and Malenchenko spent much of flight day seven installing voltage and current stabilizers in Zvezda. Components of the Elektron system, equipment sent into orbit to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen, were installed and will be activated after the first crew arrives.
The crew transferred more than 6,000 pounds of material – including six 100 pound bags of water, all of the food for the first resident crew, office supplies, onboard environmental supplies, a vacuum cleaner and a computer and monitor – to the interior of the station.
The astronauts spent a total of 5 days, 9 hours and 21 minutes inside the station before closing the hatch on the orbiting outpost. Wilcutt and Altman commanded a series of four altitude boosts to place the station in an orbit of approximately 241 by 233 statute miles, raising the average altitude by 14 miles (23 km). After spending 7 days, 21 hours and 54 minutes linked to the station, Atlantis undocked at 11:46 pm EDT as Wilcutt and Altman fired Atlantis' jets to move to a distance of about 450 feet for a double-loop flyaround.
Commander Terry Wilcutt guided Atlantis to a landing at 2:56 am Central time, wrapping up a 4.9 million mile mission in which more than three tons of equipment were delivered to the international outpost. Wilcutt and his crewmates, Pilot Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Ed Lu, Rick Mastracchio, Dan Burbank, Yuri Malenchenko and Boris Morukov completed the 23rd consecutive landing of a shuttle at the Florida spaceport, and the 30th landing of a shuttle at the Cape in the last 31 flights.
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
mission to the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
(ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis
Space Shuttle Atlantis
The Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration , the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States...
.
Crew
Mission parameters
- MassMassMass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
:- Orbiter Liftoff: 115259 kilograms (254,102.6 lb)
- Orbiter Landing: 100369 kilograms (221,275.8 lb)
- Payload: 10219 kilograms (22,529 lb)
- PerigeePerigeePerigee is the point at which an object makes its closest approach to the Earth.. Often the term is used in a broader sense to define the point in an orbit where the orbiting body is closest to the body it orbits. The opposite is the apogee, the farthest or highest point.The Greek prefix "peri"...
: 233 mi (375 kilometres (233 mi)) - Apogee: 240 mi (386 kilometres (239.8 mi))
- InclinationInclinationInclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...
: 51.6° - PeriodOrbital periodThe orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars.There are several kinds of...
: 92.2 min
Docking with ISS
- Docked: 10 September 2000, 05:51:25 UTC
- Undocked: 18 September 2000, 03:46:00 UTC
- Time Docked: 7 days, 21 h, 54 min, 35 s
Space walks
- Lu and Malenchenko – EVA 1
- EVA 1 Start: 11 September 2000 – 04:47 UTC
- EVA 1 End: 11 – 11 September:01 UTC
- Duration: 6 hours, 14 minutes
Mission highlights
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
assembly flight ISS-2A.2b utilized the SPACEHAB
SPACEHAB
Astrotech Corporation , formerly Spacehab Inc., is an aerospace company headquartered in Austin, Texas which provides commercial space products and services to NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, international space agencies, and global commercial customers...
Double Module and the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) to bring supplies to the station. The mission also included two spacewalks.
Veteran Astronaut Terrence Wilcutt (Col., USMC) lead the seven-man crew, commanding his second Shuttle flight and making his fourth trip into space. During the planned 11-day mission, Wilcutt and his crew mates spent a week inside the ISS unloading supplies from both a double SPACEHAB cargo module in the rear of Atlantis's cargo bay and from a Russian Progress M-1 resupply craft docked to the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module. Zvezda, which linked up to the ISS on 26 July, served as the early living quarters for the station and is the cornerstone of the Russian contribution to the ISS.
The goal of the flight was to prepare Zvezda for the arrival of the first residents, or Expedition, crew later in the fall of 2000 and the start of a permanent human presence on the new outpost. That crew, made up of Expedition Commander Bill Shepherd, Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev, launched on 31 October 2000 in a Soyuz capsule from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a four-month "shakedown" mission aboard the ISS.
On flight day three, Dr. Ed Lu
Ed Lu
Edward Tsang "Ed" Lu , is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions and an extended stay aboard the International Space Station.-Education:...
and Yuri Malenchenko
Yuri Malenchenko
Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko is a Ukrainian-Russian cosmonaut. Malenchenko became the first person to marry in space, on 10 August 2003, when he married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas, while he was 240 miles over New Zealand, on the International Space Station...
(Col., Russian Air Force), who were both making their second flights into space, conducted a 6 hour and 14 minute space walk. The spacewalk's objective focused on routing and connecting nine power, data and communications cables between the Zvezda module and the other Russian-built module, Zarya
Zarya
Zarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...
, as well as installing the six-foot-long magnetometer. The magnetometer will serve as a three-dimensional compass designed to minimize Zvezda propellant usage by relaying information to the module's computers regarding its orientation relative to the Earth.
Lu and Malenchenko used tethers and handrails along the ISS to make their way to a point more than 100 feet above the cargo bay, the farthest any tethered spacewalker has ventured outside the shuttle. They completed this with the assistance of their crewmates Burbank and Mastracchio who deftly maneuvered them around with the robotic arm. This spacewalk celebrates the sixth spacewalk in support of the station assembly and the 50th spacewalk in space shuttle history. Also this was the second joint U.S.-Russian space walk outside a Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
, following on the work conducted by Astronaut Scott Parazynski and Cosmonaut Vladimir Titov outside Atlantis while docked to the Mir Space Station during the STS-86
STS-86
STS-86 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. This was the last Atlantis mission before it was taken out of service temporarily for maintenance and upgrades, including the glass cockpit.-Crew:-Crew notes:...
mission in October 1997. Lu, designated EV 1, wore the space suit marked by red stripes, while Malenchenko, EV 2, wore the pure white suit. This was Lu's first space walk, while Malenchenko had conducted a pair of space walks totaling 12 hours during his four-month stay aboard Mir in 1994. Dan Burbank (Lt. Cmdr, USCG), who was a spaceflight rookie, served as the space walk choreographer.
Mission Specialist Rick Mastracchio, also a spaceflight novice, was the prime robot arm operator for the mission, using the Canadian-built arm to move Lu and Malenchenko around the ISS as they conducted their assembly work. Mastracchio is backed up on arm operations by Pilot Scott Altman (Cmdr., USN), making his second flight into space.
The final member of the crew was Russian Cosmonaut Dr. Boris Morukov
Boris Morukov
Boris Vladimirovich Morukov is a Russian physician at the State Research Center RF-Institute for Biomedical Problems . He trained with the Russian Federal Space Agency as a research-cosmonaut and flew aboard NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-106 as a mission specialist.-Biography:Morukov is married...
, making his first flight into space. Morukov was responsible for unloading supplies from the Progress vehicle during the docked phase of the flight.
On flight day four the crew entered the International Space Station through Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2) to begin the transfer operations of more than three tons of hardware and supplies. Atlantis' crew was the first to see the interior of the Russian Zvezda service module since it was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in July. Additionally, a reboost was performed using the orbiter's Reaction Control System (RCS) to place the station in a higher orbit.
Transfer of supplies and maintenance tasks continued well into the fifth day, while orbiter consumables remained above the required levels allowing managers to extend the mission one additional day.
Activities on flight day five included the installation of three batteries inside Zvezda. In order to reduce the weight for launch, Zvezda was launched with only five of its eight batteries in place.
Lu and Malenchenko spent much of flight day seven installing voltage and current stabilizers in Zvezda. Components of the Elektron system, equipment sent into orbit to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen, were installed and will be activated after the first crew arrives.
The crew transferred more than 6,000 pounds of material – including six 100 pound bags of water, all of the food for the first resident crew, office supplies, onboard environmental supplies, a vacuum cleaner and a computer and monitor – to the interior of the station.
The astronauts spent a total of 5 days, 9 hours and 21 minutes inside the station before closing the hatch on the orbiting outpost. Wilcutt and Altman commanded a series of four altitude boosts to place the station in an orbit of approximately 241 by 233 statute miles, raising the average altitude by 14 miles (23 km). After spending 7 days, 21 hours and 54 minutes linked to the station, Atlantis undocked at 11:46 pm EDT as Wilcutt and Altman fired Atlantis' jets to move to a distance of about 450 feet for a double-loop flyaround.
Commander Terry Wilcutt guided Atlantis to a landing at 2:56 am Central time, wrapping up a 4.9 million mile mission in which more than three tons of equipment were delivered to the international outpost. Wilcutt and his crewmates, Pilot Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Ed Lu, Rick Mastracchio, Dan Burbank, Yuri Malenchenko and Boris Morukov completed the 23rd consecutive landing of a shuttle at the Florida spaceport, and the 30th landing of a shuttle at the Cape in the last 31 flights.
See also
- Space scienceSpace scienceThe term space science may mean:* The study of issues specifically related to space travel and space exploration, including space medicine.* Science performed in outer space ....
- Space shuttleSpace ShuttleThe Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
- List of space shuttle missions
- List of human spaceflights chronologically
- List of ISS spacewalks
- List of spacewalks