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STS
111 Successfully On Way to ISS
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The Space Shuttle
Endeavour successfully launched the STS 111  mission
from Kennedy Space Center, pad 39A, at 21:22:49 UTC on June 5. The
crew of seven are on a 12 to 13 day crew exchange and resupply
mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The Endeavour is
scheduled to dock with the ISS at 1618 UTC (9:18 p.m. PDT) on June
7.
The crew consists
of Shuttle Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Flight
Engineer Franklin Chang- Diaz,
and Mission Specialist Philippe Perrin. Endeavour is also
delivering the fifth expedition crew, Commander Valeri Korzun,
Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev, for a scheduled
4 1/2 months mission aboard the space station. The fourth
expedition team, Daniel Bursch, Carl Walz and their Russian
commander, Yuri Onufrienko will return with the shuttle. Bursch
and Walz will break the United States space duration record of
188.4 days on June 12, surpassing Shannon Lucid’s record set in
1996.
The Leonardo,
multi-purpose logistics module (MPLM), is carrying ~2540 kg (~5600
lbm) of supplies, which includes ~680 kg (~1500 lbm) of scientific
equipment, for the Expedition Five crew to use during their five
month stay. The supplies include two racks of science gear for the
U.S. Destiny laboratory. Once the MPLM is emptied, the crew will
fill the module with trash and unneeded equipment for return to
Earth.
Three spacewalks
will be directed at the assembly and repair of the robot arm. The
first two spacewalks will connect the US$254 million Mobile Base
System to its Mobile Transporter, while the third spacewalk will
replace a faulty wrist roll joint on the Canadarm2. The crew will
install a new base platform to which the Canadarm2 is to
eventually attach itself to. The platform will be connected to the
Mobile Transporter that is part of the S-Zero truss installed
during the April shuttle mission. The transporter is designed to
move up and down rails alongside of the truss carrying the
Canadarm2. This permits the system to access additional areas of
the station for future assembly operations. The installation of
the Mobile Base will enable the addition of large new segments to
the structural truss by shuttle flights in August and October.
Endeavour is
scheduled to undock with the station on June 9 and return to
Florida for landing on June 11 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at
1813 GMT (2:13 p.m. EDT, 11:13 a.m. PDT).
Security
for the launch was tight. Sean O'Keefe, NASA Administrator, said
the agency has received intelligence reports indicating that Al Qaeda-like terrorist groups consider the
shuttle an attractive target.
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