STS-122

human spaceflight

STS-122 is the name of the 121st flight of the Space Shuttle, taking seven people into outer space to visit the International Space Station. The flight delivered a module to the space station, called Columbus. The Space Shuttle Atlantis carried the module. The flight started at 19:45 UTC, on 7 February 2008, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight ended on 20 February, at 14:07 UTC, when the Shuttle went back to the Kennedy Space Center.

STS-122
Atlantis launches with Columbus
Mission typeISS assembly
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID2008-005A
SATCAT no.32486
Mission duration12 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes, 50 seconds[1]
Distance travelled8,500,000 kilometres (5,300,000 mi)
Orbits completed202
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Atlantis
Launch mass121,264 kilograms (267,341 lb)
Landing mass93,536 kilograms (206,212 lb)
Crew
Crew size7
MembersStephen Frick
Alan G. Poindexter
Leland D. Melvin
Rex J. Walheim
Hans Schlegel
Stanley G. Love
LaunchingLéopold Eyharts
LandingDaniel M. Tani
Start of mission
Launch date7 February 2008, 19:45 (2008-02-07UTC19:45Z) UTC
Launch siteKennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Landing date20 February 2008, 14:07:10 (2008-02-20UTC14:07:11Z) UTC[1]
Landing siteKennedy SLF Runway 15
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee331 kilometres (206 mi)[2]
Apogee339 kilometres (211 mi)[2]
Inclination51.6 degrees[2][3]
Period91.23 minutes[2]
Epoch9 February 2008[2]
Docking with ISS
Docking portPMA-2
(Harmony forward)
Docking date9 February 2008, 17:17 UTC
Undocking date18 February 2008, 09:24 UTC
Time docked8 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes

Left to right - Front row: Frick, Eyharts, Poindexter; Back row: Melvin, Walheim, Love, Schlegel
← STS-120
STS-123 →
 

Seven people were aboard the Space Shuttle. They are; Stephen Frick, who was the Commander, the man in charge of the Space Shuttle, Alan G. Poindexter, who was the Pilot, the man who flied the Shuttle, Leland D. Melvin, Rex J. Walheim, Hans Schlegel and Stanley G. Love, who were there to fit the Columbus onto the space station. Léopold Eyharts was also on board. He lived on the Space Station for a month. Daniel M. Tani, who was on the space station came home aboard the Soyuz spacecraft.

Flight

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Launch

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The flight was originally scheduled to launch, on 6 December 2007. A problem with a part of the fuel tank used to work out how much fuel was left went wrong, which meant the start of the flight had to be delayed. After the same part went wrong in an attempt to start the flight on 9 December, the start of the flight was moved to January 2008, and later to February. The flight started on 7 February 2008. Some people at NASA were worried that bad weather might stop the launch, but the bad weather cleared up in time for a good launch.

Landing

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At 13:00 UTC, a 2-minute-43-second de-orbit (opposite of making an orbit) burn was conducted. Then it entered in the atmosphere at 13:35 UTC. Atlantis touched down on Runway 15 of the Kennedy Space Center at 9:07:10 EST (14:07:10 UTC).[1][4] The wheels of the orbiter stopped at 09:08:08 EST (14:08:08 UTC).[1][4]

Mission

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The people aboard STS-122 had several jobs to do. The main job was to add the new room, or module, Columbus, to the space station. To do this, a robot arm, called a Remote Manipulator System, or RMS, will be used to lift Columbus out of the Space Shuttle, and move it over to a gap in the side of the space station. Two of the crew will then go outside, and fit parts to the module. Columbus will be used for scientific research.

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Spaceflight Now – Mission Status Centre". Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  3. William Harwood (2007). "STS-122 Quick Look Data". CBS News. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Live STS-122 coverage. NASA TV. 20 February 2008. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2008.