KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-111 Mission Specialist Franklin Chang-Diaz suits up for launch, scheduled at 7:44 p.m. EDT, May 30, 2002. This is his seventh Shuttle flight, only the second astronaut to achieve that number. STS-111 is the second Utilization Flight to the International Space Station, carrying the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo, the Mobile Base System (MBS), and a replacement wrist/roll joint for the Canadarm 2. Also onboard Space Shuttle Endeavour is the Expedition 5 crew who will replace Expedition 4 on board the Station. The MBS will be installed on the Mobile Transporter to complete the Canadian Mobile Servicing System, or MSS. The mechanical arm will then have the capability to "inchworm" from the U.S. Lab Destiny to the MSS and travel along the truss to work sites. Expedition 4 crew members will return to Earth with the STS-111 crew on Endeavour KSC-02pd0830
Summary
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- STS-111 Mission Specialist Franklin Chang-Diaz suits up for launch, scheduled at 7:44 p.m. EDT, May 30, 2002. This is his seventh Shuttle flight, only the second astronaut to achieve that number. STS-111 is the second Utilization Flight to the International Space Station, carrying the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo, the Mobile Base System (MBS), and a replacement wrist/roll joint for the Canadarm 2. Also onboard Space Shuttle Endeavour is the Expedition 5 crew who will replace Expedition 4 on board the Station. The MBS will be installed on the Mobile Transporter to complete the Canadian Mobile Servicing System, or MSS. The mechanical arm will then have the capability to "inchworm" from the U.S. Lab Destiny to the MSS and travel along the truss to work sites. Expedition 4 crew members will return to Earth with the STS-111 crew on Endeavour
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
Tags
Date
Source
Copyright info