158-797: Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104 ) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA , the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is also
316-459: A 1.3-inch-thick (33 mm) optical pane, and an external thermal pane. The windows were tinted with the same ink used to make American banknotes . The Space Shuttle orbiter had three sets of landing gear which emerged downwards through doors in the heat shield. As a weight-saving measure, the gear could not be retracted once deployed. Since any premature extension of the landing gear would very likely have been catastrophic (as it opened through
474-404: A 10-year life and later cleared for an additional 10 years; they exceeded this life in 2005. NASA said it could not guarantee any longer that the vessels on Atlantis would not burst or explode under full pressure . Failure of these tanks could have damaged parts of the orbiter and even wound or kill ground personnel. An in-flight failure of a pressure vessel could have even resulted in the loss of
632-479: A bubble of their own exhaled carbon dioxide had formed around their heads. Most of the food eaten by station crews was frozen, refrigerated or canned. Meals were prepared by the cosmonauts, with the help of a dietitian , before their flight to the station. The diet was designed to provide around 100 g of protein , 130 g of fat and 330 g of carbohydrates per day, in addition to appropriate mineral and vitamin supplements. Meals were spaced out through
790-753: A counterpart to Mir , while the Soviets were planning to construct Mir -2 in the 1990s as a replacement for the station. Because of budget and design constraints, Freedom never progressed past mock-ups and minor component tests and, with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Space Race , the project was nearly cancelled entirely by the United States House of Representatives . The post-Soviet economic chaos in Russia also led to
948-509: A foul smell, which was often cited as visitors' strongest impression. Researchers in 2018 reported, after detecting the presence on the International Space Station (ISS) of five Enterobacter bugandensis bacterial strains, none pathogenic to humans, that microorganisms on ISS should be carefully monitored to continue ensuring a medically healthy environment for the astronauts. Some biologists were concerned about
1106-471: A goal of developing technologies required for permanent occupation of space . Mir was the first continuously inhabited long-term research station in orbit and held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at 3,644 days, until it was surpassed by the ISS on 23 October 2010. It holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, with Valeri Polyakov spending 437 days and 18 hours on
1264-414: A good seal. A lever operated a powerful fan and a suction hole slid open: the air stream carried the waste away. Solid waste was collected in individual bags which were stored in an aluminium container. Full containers were transferred to Progress spacecraft for disposal. Liquid waste was evacuated by a hose connected to the front of the toilet, with anatomically appropriate "urine funnel adapters" attached to
1422-535: A guitar. It commonly housed three crew members, but was capable of supporting as many as six for up to a month. The station was designed to remain in orbit for around five years; it remained in orbit for fifteen. As a result, NASA astronaut John Blaha reported that, with the exception of Priroda and Spektr , which were added late in the station's life, Mir did look used, which is to be expected given it had been lived in for ten to eleven years without being brought home and cleaned. The time zone used on board Mir
1580-455: A hand crank were 14 metres (46 ft) long, meaning that all of the station's modules could be accessed during spacewalks. Each module was fitted with external components specific to the experiments that were carried out within that module, the most obvious being the Travers antenna mounted to Priroda . This synthetic aperture radar consisted of a large dish-like framework mounted outside
1738-556: A maximum defect depth of approximately 0.0003 in (7.6 μm ), less than the reportable depth threshold of 0.0015 in (38 μm ) and not serious enough to warrant the pane's replacement. * Mission canceled following the Challenger disaster . Space Shuttle orbiter The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle , a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that
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#17327721623371896-424: A medical doctor he observed the effects of stress on his comrades that he believed was the outcome of following an itinerary without making modifications to it. Despite this, he commented that his comrades performed all their tasks in a supremely professional manner. Astronaut Shannon Lucid , who set the record for longest stay in space by a woman while aboard Mir (surpassed by Sunita Williams 11 years later on
2054-476: A modified marking scheme for the shuttle fleet that would be matched by Discovery , Atlantis and Endeavour . The letters "USA" in black above an American flag were displayed on the left wing, with the NASA "worm" logotype in gray centered above the name of the orbiter in black on the right wing. Also, the name of the orbiter was inscribed not on the payload bay doors, but on the forward fuselage just below and behind
2212-426: A mounting point for externally mounted exposure experiments. To assist in moving objects around the exterior of the station during EVAs , Mir featured two Strela cargo cranes mounted to the sides of the core module, used for moving spacewalking cosmonauts and parts. The cranes consisted of telescopic poles assembled in sections which measured around 1.8 metres (6 ft) when collapsed, but when extended using
2370-576: A new space station, which eventually became the ISS . They also agreed, in preparation for this new project, that the United States would be heavily involved in the Mir programme as part of an international project known as the Shuttle–Mir Programme . The project, sometimes called "Phase One", was intended to allow the United States to learn from Russian experience in long-duration spaceflight and to foster
2528-470: A shortage of power as a result. The first two arrays, each 38 m (409 ft ) in area, were launched on the core module, and together provided a total of 9 kW of power. A third, dorsal panel was launched on Kvant -1 and mounted on the core module in 1987, providing a further 2 kW from a 22 m (237 ft ) area. Kvant -2, launched in 1989, provided two 10 m (32.8 ft) long panels which supplied 3.5 kW each, whilst Kristall
2686-420: A specific purpose in mind (for instance, the core module functioned largely as living quarters), thus eliminating the need to install all the station's equipment in one module. In its completed configuration, the space station consisted of seven different modules, each launched into orbit separately over a period of ten years by either Proton-K rockets or Space Shuttle Atlantis . In addition to
2844-524: A spherical compartment at the forward end of the station. It was originally planned that the ports would connect to 7.5-tonne (8.3-short-ton) modules derived from the Soyuz spacecraft . These modules would have used a Soyuz propulsion module, as in Soyuz and Progress , and the descent and orbital modules would have been replaced with a long laboratory module. Following a February 1979 governmental resolution,
3002-569: A spirit of cooperation between the two nations and their space agencies , the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos). The project prepared the way for further cooperative space ventures, specifically, "Phase Two" of the joint project, the construction of the ISS. The programme was announced in 1993; the first mission started in 1994, and
3160-538: A tethered sleeping bag, a fold-out desk, a porthole, and storage for personal effects. Visiting crews had no allocated sleep module, instead attaching a sleeping bag to an available space on a wall; US astronauts installed themselves within Spektr until a collision with a Progress spacecraft caused the depressurisation of that module. It was important that crew accommodations be well ventilated; otherwise, astronauts could wake up oxygen-deprived and gasping for air, because
3318-455: A total of 46 listed from STS-129 to STS-132. Atlantis went through two overhauls of scheduled orbiter maintenance down periods (OMDPs) during its operational history. Atlantis arrived at Palmdale, California in October 1992 for OMDP-1. During that visit 165 modifications were made over the next 20 months. These included the installation of a drag chute, new plumbing lines to configure
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#17327721623373476-568: Is 60 ft (18 m) by 15 ft (4.6 m), and could transport 24,400 kg (53,800 lb) to 204 km (127 mi), or 12,500 kg (27,600 lb) to the ISS at 407 km (253 mi). The most massive payload launched by the Space Shuttle was the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 1999 at 50,162 lb (22,753 kg), including its Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and support equipment. The Shuttle
3634-497: Is a good countermeasure for the bone and muscle density loss that occurs in low-gravity situations. There were two space toilets (ASUs) on Mir , located in the core module and Kvant -2 . They used a fan-driven suction system similar to the Space Shuttle Waste Collection System. The user is first fastened to the toilet seat, which was equipped with spring-loaded restraining bars to ensure
3792-510: Is extremely reactive and spontaneously ignites on contact (hypergolic) with each other. This chemical reaction (4CH 3 NHNH 2 + 5N 2 O 4 → 9N 2 + 4CO 2 + 12H 2 O) occurs within the engine's combustion chamber. The reaction products are then expanded and accelerated in the engine bell to provide thrust. Due to their hypergolic characteristics these two chemicals are easily started and restarted without an ignition source, which makes them ideal for spacecraft maneuvering systems. During
3950-1070: The Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois but was later transferred to the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma . The Motion Base Simulator was transferred to the Texas A&;M Aerospace Engineering Department in College Station, Texas , and the Guidance and Navigation Simulator went to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum in Starke, Florida . NASA also made approximately 7,000 TPS tiles available to schools and universities. Data from General characteristics Performance The cargo bay
4108-455: The Apollo command module . The crew cabin consisted of the flight deck, the mid-deck, and the utility area. The uppermost of these was the flight deck, in which sat the Space Shuttle's commander and pilot in permanently fixed seats with up to two mission specialists seated behind them in stowable seats. The mission specialist in seat four (located behind and between commander and pilot) served as
4266-571: The International Space Station , or formerly with the Russian Mir space station . The RCS also controlled the attitude of the orbiter during most of its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere – until the air became dense enough that the rudder, elevons and body flap became effective. The orbiter's OMS and RCS fuel is monomethyl hydrazine (CH 3 NHNH 2 ), and the oxidizer is dinitrogen tetroxide (N 2 O 4 ). This particular propellant combination
4424-643: The Moon . Atlantis is named after RV Atlantis , a two-masted sailing ship that operated as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1930 to 1966. The space shuttle is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off on its maiden voyage STS-51-J on October 3, 1985. This was the second shuttle mission that
4582-716: The P3/P4 truss segments and solar arrays to the ISS. On ISS assembly flight STS-122 in February 2008, Atlantis delivered the Columbus laboratory to the ISS. Columbus laboratory is the largest single contribution to the ISS made by the European Space Agency (ESA). In May 2009 Atlantis flew a seven-member crew to the Hubble Space Telescope for its Servicing Mission 4, STS-125 . The mission
4740-681: The Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania -based Rockwell International company's North American Aircraft Operations branch. The first orbiter, Enterprise , made its maiden flight in 1977. An unpowered glider, it was carried by a modified Boeing 747 airliner called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and released for a series of atmospheric test flights and landings. Enterprise was partially disassembled and retired after completion of critical testing. The remaining orbiters were fully operational spacecraft, and were launched vertically as part of
4898-568: The RKA Mission Control Centre (TsUP). Radio links were also used during rendezvous and docking procedures and for audio and video communication between crew members, flight controllers and family members. As a result, Mir was equipped with several communication systems used for different purposes. The station communicated directly with the ground via the Lira antenna mounted to the core module . The Lira antenna also had
Space Shuttle Atlantis - Misplaced Pages Continue
5056-593: The Russian Federation . Mir was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996. It had a greater mass than any previous spacecraft . At the time it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit, succeeded by the International Space Station (ISS) after Mir 's orbit decayed . The station served as a microgravity research laboratory in which crews conducted experiments in biology , human biology , physics , astronomy , meteorology , and spacecraft systems with
5214-425: The Space Shuttle stack. Columbia was the first space-worthy orbiter; it made its inaugural flight in 1981. Challenger , Discovery , and Atlantis followed in 1983, 1984, and 1985 respectively. In 1986, Challenger was destroyed in a disaster shortly after its 10th launch, killing all seven crew members. Endeavour was built as Challenger ' s successor, and was first launched in 1992. In 2003, Columbia
5372-459: The liquid hydrogen fuel and the liquid oxygen oxidizer for its three main rocket engines were fed from an external cryogenic propellant tank . Additionally, two reusable solid rocket boosters (SRBs) provided additional thrust for approximately the first two minutes of launch. The orbiters themselves did carry hypergolic propellants for their Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters and Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines. About
5530-468: The nickel-cadmium storage batteries installed throughout the station. The arrays rotated in only one degree of freedom over a 180° arc, and tracked the Sun using Sun sensors and motors installed in the array mounts. The station itself also had to be oriented to ensure optimum illumination of the arrays. When the station's all-sky sensor detected that Mir had entered Earth's shadow, the arrays were rotated to
5688-426: The skeleton , or spaceflight osteopenia . Other significant effects include fluid redistribution, a slowing of the cardiovascular system , decreased production of red blood cells , balance disorders, and a weakening of the immune system . Lesser symptoms include loss of body mass, nasal congestion, sleep disturbance, excess flatulence , and puffiness of the face. These effects begin to reverse quickly upon return to
5846-504: The trailing edges of the delta wings, and the combination rudder and speed brake was attached at the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer . These, along with a movable body flap located underneath the main engines, controlled the orbiter during later stages of reentry . The prime contractor for the orbiter was Rockwell International, which built the pressurized cabin, thermal protection, forward attitude control system, and forward and aft fuselage in its Downey, California factory,
6004-579: The American flag above the orbiter's name, left-justified rather than centered, on the right wing. The three surviving flight vehicles, Discovery , Atlantis and Endeavour , still bear these markings as museum displays. Enterprise became the property of the Smithsonian Institution in 1985 and was no longer under NASA's control when these changes were made, hence the prototype orbiter still has its 1983 markings and still has its name on
6162-510: The EVA. The utility area was located under the floor of the mid-deck and contained air and water tanks in addition to the carbon dioxide scrubbing system. Three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) were mounted on the orbiter's aft fuselage in the pattern of an equilateral triangle . These three liquid-fueled engines could be swiveled 10.5 degrees vertically and 8.5 degrees horizontally during
6320-417: The Earth. To prevent some of these effects, the station was equipped with two treadmills (in the core module and Kvant -2) and a stationary bicycle (in the core module); each cosmonaut was to cycle the equivalent of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and run the equivalent of 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) per day. Cosmonauts used bungee cords to strap themselves to the treadmill. Researchers believe that exercise
6478-573: The ISS), also commented about working aboard Mir : "I think going to work on a daily basis on Mir is very similar to going to work on a daily basis on an outstation in Antarctica. The big difference with going to work here is the isolation, because you really are isolated. You don't have a lot of support from the ground. You really are on your own." The most significant adverse effects of long-term weightlessness are muscle atrophy and deterioration of
Space Shuttle Atlantis - Misplaced Pages Continue
6636-466: The ISS. The atmosphere on Mir was similar to Earth's . Normal air pressure on the station was 101.3 kPa (14.7 psi ); the same as at sea level on Earth. An Earth-like atmosphere offers benefits for crew comfort. Interkosmos ( Russian : ИнтерКосмос ) was a Soviet Union space exploration programme which allowed members from countries allied with the Soviet Union to participate in crewed and uncrewed space exploration missions. Participation
6794-781: The Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility , Florida, except STS-3 at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Similar special clearances (no-fly zones) were also in effect at potential emergency landing sites, such as in Spain and in West Africa during all launches. When an orbiter landing was carried out at night, the runway was always strongly illuminated with light from floodlights and spotlights on
6952-621: The P6 array in preparation for its relocation and performed four spacewalks. Atlantis was not equipped to take advantage of the Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System so missions could not be extended by making use of power provided by ISS. During the STS-129 post-flight interview on November 16, 2009, shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach said that Atlantis officially beat Space Shuttle Discovery for
7110-595: The STS-335 Launch on Need mission that would have been necessary if STS-134's crew became stranded in orbit. Atlantis landed for the final time at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. By the end of its final mission, Atlantis had orbited the Earth a total of 4,848 times, traveling nearly 126,000,000 mi (203,000,000 km), which is more than 525 times the distance from the Earth to
7268-840: The Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center , replacing Enterprise which was moved to the Intrepid Museum in New York City . Endeavour went to the California Science Center in Los Angeles arriving on October 14, 2012. Atlantis went to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island on November 2, 2012. Hundreds of other shuttle artifacts will be put on display at various other museums and educational institutions around
7426-559: The Space Shuttle, in order to receive commands from the TsUP and Mir crew members via the TORU system. At Mir' s orbital altitude, the force of Earth's gravity was 88% of sea level gravity. While the constant free fall of the station offered a perceived sensation of weightlessness , the onboard environment was not one of weightlessness or zero gravity. The environment was often described as microgravity . This state of perceived weightlessness
7584-767: The U.S. One of the Crew Compartment Trainer Flight and mid-deck training hardware is on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force , while the other is on display at the JSC. The Full Fuselage Trainer, which includes the payload bay and aft section but no wings, is on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington . The Mission Simulation and Training Facility's Shuttle Mission Simulator Fixed Base Simulator originally went to
7742-655: The United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes called for a short joint space programme with one American astronaut deployed to the Russian space station Mir and two Russian cosmonauts deployed to a Space Shuttle. In September 1993, US Vice President Al Gore Jr. , and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin announced plans for
7900-675: The air, and covered in silicon borides and borosilicate glass , with blacker tiles covering the lower surface, and whiter tiles covering the tail, parts of the upper wing and crew cabin surfaces, and the outsides of the payload bay doors. The nose cap, nose landing gear doors, and leading edges were made of reinforced carbon–carbon , which is rayon impregnated with graphite -filled resins and coated in silicon carbide . The upper, white materials that were not in tiles were mostly made of either Nomex felt coated in silicon -rich elastomer or beta cloth , woven silica fibers covered in Teflon . This
8058-426: The appearance of being in orbit around the Earth. The mount angle pays tribute to the countdown that preceded every shuttle launch at KSC. A multi-story digital projection of Earth rotates behind the orbiter in a 5,900 m (64,000 sq ft) indoor facility. Ground breaking of the facility occurred in 2012. The exhibit opened on June 29, 2013. A total of 207 individuals flew with Space Shuttle Atlantis over
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#17327721623378216-546: The cancellation of Mir -2, though only after its base block, DOS-8 , had been constructed. Similar budgetary difficulties were faced by other nations with space station projects, which prompted the US government to negotiate with European states, Russia, Japan, and Canada in the early 1990s to begin a collaborative project. In June 1992, American president George H. W. Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin agreed to cooperate on space exploration . The resulting Agreement between
8374-459: The capability to use the Luch data relay satellite system (which fell into disrepair in the 1990s) and the network of Soviet tracking ships deployed in various locations around the world (which also became unavailable in the 1990s). UHF radio was used by cosmonauts conducting EVAs . UHF was also employed by other spacecraft that docked to or undocked from the station, such as Soyuz, Progress, and
8532-456: The cockpit windows. This would make the name visible when the orbiter was photographed in orbit with the doors open. Challenger also had black tiles on the tip of its vertical stabilizer much like Columbia , which the other orbiters lacked. In 1983, Enterprise had its wing markings changed to match Challenger , and the NASA "worm" logotype on the aft end of the payload bay doors was changed from gray to black. Some black markings were added to
8690-476: The core module. Crews were also provided with rinse-less shampoo and edible toothpaste to save water. On a 1998 visit to Mir , bacteria and larger organisms were found to have proliferated in water globules formed from moisture that had condensed behind service panels. The station provided two permanent crew quarters, the Kayutkas , phonebox-sized booths set towards the rear of the core module, each featuring
8848-423: The core module. The VDU's increased distance from Mir' s axis allowed an 85% decrease in fuel consumption, reducing the amount of propellant required to orient the station. A second girder, Rapana , was mounted aft of Sofora on Kvant -1. This girder, a small prototype of a structure intended to be used on Mir -2 to hold large parabolic dishes away from the main station structure, was 5 metres long and used as
9006-726: The course of its 33 missions. Because the shuttle sometimes flew crew members arriving and departing Mir and the ISS, not all of them launched and landed on Atlantis . Astronaut Clayton Anderson , ESA astronaut Leopold Eyharts and Russian cosmonauts Nikolai Budarin and Anatoly Solovyev only launched on Atlantis . Similarly, astronauts Daniel Tani and Sunita Williams , as well as cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Gennady Strekalov only landed with Atlantis . Only 146 men and women both launched and landed aboard Atlantis . Some of those people flew with Atlantis more than once. Taking them into account, 203 total seats were filled over Atlantis ' 33 missions. Astronaut Jerry Ross holds
9164-417: The crews began preparing for their evening meal at about 19:00. The cosmonauts were free to do as they wished in the evening, and largely worked to their own pace during the day. In their spare time, crews were able to catch up with work, observe the Earth below, respond to letters, drawings, and other items brought from Earth (and give them an official stamp to show they had been aboard Mir ), or make use of
9322-441: The damage to be "lights and shadows" and instructed the crew to proceed with the mission as usual, infuriating many of the crew. Upon landing, Atlantis became the single-most-damaged shuttle to successfully land. The survival of the crew is attributed to a steel L band antenna plate which was positioned directly under the missing tile. A similar situation would eventually lead to the loss of the shuttle Columbia in 2003 , albeit on
9480-404: The day to aid assimilation. Canned food such as jellied beef tongue was placed into a niche in the core module's table, where it could be warmed in 5–10 minutes. Usually, crews drank tea, coffee and fruit juices, but, unlike the ISS, the station also had a supply of cognac and vodka for special occasions. In the 1990s ninety species of micro-organisms were found inside Mir , four years after
9638-406: The decision at an employee event held on April 12, 2011, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle flight : "First, here at the Kennedy Space Center where every shuttle mission and so many other historic human space flights have originated, we'll showcase my old friend, Atlantis ". The Visitor Complex displays Atlantis with payload bay doors opened mounted at a 43.21° angle to give
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#17327721623379796-547: The detailed itineraries provided by ground control. Every second on board was accounted for and all activities were timetabled. After working some time on Mir , Linenger came to feel that the order in which his activities were allocated did not represent the most logical or efficient order possible for these activities. He decided to perform his tasks in an order that he felt enabled him to work more efficiently, be less fatigued, and suffer less from stress. Linenger noted that his comrades on Mir did not "improvise" in this way, and as
9954-483: The early design process of the orbiter, the forward RCS thrusters were to be hidden underneath retractable doors, which would open once the orbiter reached space. These were omitted in favor of flush-mounted thrusters for fear that the RCS doors would remain stuck open and endanger the crew and orbiter during re-entry. The orbiter's flight deck or cockpit originally had 2,214 controls and displays, about three times as many as
10112-417: The end of the mission. The hydrogen and oxygen for the fuel cells was kept in pairs of cryogenic storage tanks in the mid-fuselage underneath the payload bay liner, and a variable number of such tank sets could be installed (up to five pairs) depending on the requirements of the mission. The three fuel cells were capable of generating 21 kilowatts of power continuously (or a 15-minute peak of 36 kilowatts) with
10270-553: The end, it had been visited by 104 different people from twelve different nations , making it the most visited spacecraft in history (a record later surpassed by the ISS ). Due to pressure to launch the station on schedule, mission planners were left without Soyuz spacecraft or modules to launch to the station at first. It was decided to launch Soyuz T-15 on a dual mission to both Mir and Salyut 7 . Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov first docked with Mir on 15 March 1986. During their nearly 51-day stay on Mir , they brought
10428-417: The federally owned Plant 42 complex. Each NASA Space Shuttle designation was composed of a prefix and suffix separated by a dash. The prefix for operational shuttles is OV, for Orbiter Vehicle . The suffix is composed of two parts: the series and the vehicle number; "0" was used for non-flight ready orbiters, and "1" was used for flight-ready orbiters. The vehicle number is sequentially assigned within
10586-862: The first citizen of Italy to travel to space. Astronaut Mike Massimino who flew on STS-125 mission became the first person to use Twitter in space in May 2009. Having flown aboard Atlantis as part of the STS-132 crew in May 2010 and Discovery as part of the STS-133 crew in February/March 2011, Stephen Bowen became the first NASA astronaut to be launched on consecutive missions. NASA announced in 2007 that 24 helium and nitrogen gas tanks in Atlantis were older than their designed lifetime. These composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV) were designed for
10744-497: The flight engineer during ascent and landing, tracking information from CAPCOM and calling out milestones. The mid-deck, which was below the flight deck, was normally equipped with up to three additional stowable seats, depending on the crew requirements of the mission. One mission carried four seats ( STS-61-A ) and NASA drew up plans that were never used to carry up to seven seats in the case of an emergency rescue ( STS-400 ). The galley, toilet, sleep locations, storage lockers, and
10902-514: The four modules mentioned above, no engines of its own, was launched attached to a tug based on the TKS spacecraft which delivered the module to the aft end of the core module instead of the docking node. Once hard docking had been achieved, the tug undocked and deorbited itself. The docking module, meanwhile, was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-74 and mated to the orbiter's Orbiter Docking System . Atlantis then docked, via
11060-410: The fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985. Atlantis embarked on its 33rd and final mission, also the final mission of a space shuttle, STS-135 , on July 8, 2011. STS-134 by Endeavour was expected to be the final flight before STS-135 was authorized in October 2010. STS-135 took advantage of the processing for
11218-474: The ground, making landing lights on the orbiter unnecessary and also an unneeded spaceflight weight load. A total of 26 landings took place at night, the first being STS-8 in September 1983. The typeface used on the Space Shuttle orbiter was Helvetica . The prototype orbiter Enterprise originally had a flag of the United States on the upper surface of the left wing and the letters "USA" in black on
11376-513: The heat shield layers), the landing gear could only be lowered by manual controls, and not by any automatic system. Similarly, since the Shuttle landed at high speed and could not abort its landing attempt, the gear had to deploy reliably on the first try every time. The gear were unlocked and deployed by triple redundant hydraulics, with the gear doors actuated by mechanical linkages to the gear strut. If all three hydraulic systems failed to release
11534-512: The highest risk of failure were replaced. After the STS-125 mission, a work light knob was discovered jammed in the space between one of Atlantis ' s front interior windows and the Orbiter dashboard structure. The knob was believed to have entered the space during flight, when the pressurized Orbiter was expanded to its maximum size. Then, once back on Earth, the Orbiter contracted, jamming
11692-405: The hydraulic system, including the hydraulic sub-system that pointed the three main liquid-fueled rocket engines, under computerized flight control . The hydraulic pressure generated was also used to control all of the orbiter's flight control surfaces (the elevons, rudder, speed brake, etc.), to deploy the landing gear of the orbiter, and to retract the umbilical hose connection doors located near
11850-405: The knob in place. Leaving "as-is" was considered unsafe for flight, and some options for removal (including window replacement) would have included a 6-month delay of Atlantis ' s next mission (planned to be STS-129 ). Had the removal of the knob been unsuccessful, the worst-case scenario was that Atlantis could have been retired from the fleet, leaving Discovery and Endeavour to complete
12008-472: The landing gear uplocks within one second of the release command, pyrotechnic charges automatically cut the lock hooks and a set of springs deployed the gear. During landing, the Shuttle nose wheel could be steered with the rudder pedals in the cockpit. During the construction of Space Shuttle Endeavour , an improved nose wheel steering system was developed which allowed easier and more effective nose wheel steering. After Endeavour 's roll-out,
12166-587: The largest spacecraft in orbit at the time. Atlantis delivered several vital components for the construction of the International Space Station (ISS). During the February 2001 mission STS-98 to the ISS, Atlantis delivered the Destiny Module , the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the ISS. The five-hour 25-minute third spacewalk performed by astronauts Robert Curbeam and Thomas Jones during STS-98 marked NASA's 100th extra vehicular activity in space. The Quest Joint Airlock ,
12324-401: The manifest alone. On June 29, 2009, Atlantis was pressurized to 17 psi (120 kPa) (3 psi above ambient), which forced the Orbiter to expand slightly. The knob was then frozen with dry ice , and successfully removed. Small areas of damage to the window were discovered where the edges of the knob had been embedded into the pane. Subsequent investigation of the window damage discovered
12482-491: The minimisation of movement on board the station, and so Mir would be oriented in a gravity gradient attitude for stability. Prior to the arrival of the modules containing these gyrodynes, the station's attitude was controlled using thrusters located on the core module alone, and, in an emergency, the thrusters on docked Soyuz spacecraft could be used to maintain the station's orientation. Radio communications provided telemetry and scientific data links between Mir and
12640-422: The module would be launched independently on its own Proton-K and chase the station automatically. It would then dock to the forward docking port on the core module's docking node, then extend its Lyappa arm to mate with a fixture on the node's exterior. The arm would then lift the module away from the forward docking port and rotate it on to the radial port where it was to mate, before lowering it to dock. The node
12798-414: The module, to Kristall , then left the module behind when it undocked later in the mission. Various other external components, including three truss structures, several experiments and other unpressurised elements were also mounted to the exterior of the station by cosmonauts conducting a total of eighty spacewalks over the course of the station's history. The station's assembly marked the beginning of
12956-403: The module, with associated equipment within, used for Earth observations experiments, as was most of the other equipment on Priroda , including various radiometers and scan platforms. Kvant -2 also featured several scan platforms and was fitted with a mounting bracket to which the cosmonaut manoeuvring unit , or Ikar , was mated. This backpack was designed to assist cosmonauts in moving around
13114-612: The modules, and the VDU thruster used for roll control mounted to the Sofora girder) were used to attain the new attitude and the CMGs were reengaged. This was done fairly regularly depending on experimental needs; for instance, Earth or astronomical observations required that the instrument recording images be continuously aimed at the target, and so the station was oriented to make this possible. Conversely, materials processing experiments required
13272-694: The more critical reinforced carbon-carbon. During STS-37 in 1991, Atlantis deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory . Beginning in 1995 with STS-71 , Atlantis made seven straight flights to the former Russian space station Mir as part of the Shuttle– Mir program . STS-71 marked a number of firsts in human spaceflight: 100th U.S. crewed space flight; first U.S. Shuttle-Russian Space Station Mir docking and joint on-orbit operations; and first on-orbit change-out of shuttle crew. When linked, Atlantis and Mir together formed
13430-751: The mutant fungi being a major microbiological hazard for humans, and reaching Earth in the splashdown, after having been in an isolated environment for 15 years. Mir was visited by a total of 28 long-duration or "principal" crews, each of which was given a sequential expedition number formatted as EO-X. Expeditions varied in length (from the 72-day flight of the crew of EO-28 to the 437-day flight of Valeri Polyakov ), but generally lasted around six months. Principal expedition crews consisted of two or three crew members, who often launched as part of one expedition but returned with another (Polyakov launched with EO-14 and landed with EO-17). The principal expeditions were often supplemented with visiting crews who remained on
13588-636: The navies of the world (though the test orbiter Enterprise , originally to be named " Constitution ", had its name changed after the Star Trek starship , itself named after a series of US Navy ships ), and they were also numbered using the NASA Orbiter Vehicle designation system. Three of the names had also been given to Apollo spacecraft between 1969 and 1972: Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia , Apollo 15 Command Module Endeavour , and Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger . While all of
13746-524: The new Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA). As a result, most of the station's occupants were Soviet; through international collaborations such as the Interkosmos , Euromir and Shuttle– Mir programmes, the station was made accessible to space travellers from several Asian, European and North American nations. Mir was deorbited in March 2001 after funding was cut off. The cost of the Mir programme
13904-499: The nose of the Space Shuttle orbiter, included 14 primary and two vernier RCS rockets. The aft RCS engines were located in the two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) pods at the rear of the orbiter, and these included 12 primary (PRCS) and two vernier (VRCS) engines in each pod. The PRCS system provided the pointing control of the Orbiter, and the VRCS was used for fine maneuvering during the rendezvous, docking, and undocking maneuvers with
14062-514: The nose, cockpit windows and vertical tail to more closely resemble the flight vehicles, but the name "Enterprise" remained on the payload bay doors as there was never any need to open them. Columbia had its name moved to the forward fuselage to match the other flight vehicles after STS-61-C , during the 1986–1988 hiatus when the shuttle fleet was grounded following the loss of Challenger , but retained its original wing markings until its last overhaul (after STS-93 ), and its unique black chines for
14220-543: The operational orbiters and test articles produced for use in the Shuttle program, there are also various mockup replicas on display throughout the United States: Mir Mir ( Russian : Мир , IPA: [ˈmʲir] ; lit. ' peace ' or ' world ' ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by
14378-421: The optimum angle predicted for reacquiring the Sun once the station passed out of the shadow. The batteries, each of 60 Ah capacity, were then used to power the station until the arrays recovered their maximum output on the day side of Earth. The solar arrays themselves were launched and installed over a period of eleven years, more slowly than originally planned, with the station continually suffering from
14536-601: The orbital insertion and deorbit propulsion, McDonnell Douglas for the surrounding pods, and Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, Los Angeles for the launch and ascent propulsion. Final assembly was carried out at United States Air Force Plant 42 near Palmdale, California . The Reaction Control System (RCS) was composed of 44 small liquid-fueled rocket thrusters and their very sophisticated fly-by-wire flight control system , which utilized computationally intensive digital Kalman filtering . This control system carried out
14694-420: The orbiter and its crew. NASA analyses originally assumed that the vessels would leak before they burst , but new tests showed that they could in fact burst before leaking. Because the original vendor was no longer in business, and a new manufacturer could not be qualified before 2010, when the shuttles were scheduled to be retired, NASA decided to continue operations with the existing tanks. Therefore, to reduce
14852-567: The orbiter consuming an average of about 14 kilowatts of that power (leaving 7 kilowatts for the payload). Additionally, the fuel cells provided potable water for the crew during the mission. The orbiter's computer system consisted of five identical IBM AP-101 avionics computers, which redundantly controlled the vehicle's on-board systems. The specialized HAL/S programming language was used for orbiter systems. The orbiters were protected by Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials (developed by Rockwell Space Systems ) inside and out, from
15010-526: The orbiter for extended duration, improved nose wheel steering, more than 800 new heat tiles and blankets, new insulation for main landing gear, and structural modifications to the airframe. On November 5, 1997, Atlantis again arrived at Palmdale for OMDP-2 which was completed on September 24, 1998. The 130 modifications carried out during OMDP-2 included glass cockpit displays, replacement of TACAN navigation with GPS and ISS airlock and docking installation. Several weight reduction modifications were performed on
15168-520: The orbiter including replacement of Advanced Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation (AFRSI) insulation blankets on upper surfaces with FRSI. Lightweight crew seats were installed and the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) package installed on OMDP-1 was removed to lighten Atlantis to better serve its prime mission of servicing the ISS. During the standdown period post Columbia accident, Atlantis went through over 75 modifications to
15326-467: The orbiter ranging from very minor bolt change-outs to window change-outs and different fluid systems. Atlantis was known among the shuttle workforce as being more prone than the others in the fleet to problems that needed to be addressed while readying the vehicle for launch, leading to some nicknaming it " Britney ". NASA initially planned to withdraw Atlantis from service in 2008, as the orbiter would have been due to undergo its third scheduled OMDP;
15484-406: The orbiter's outer surface to the payload bay. The TPS protected it from the cold soak of −121 °C (−186 °F) in space to the 1,649 °C (3,000 °F) heat of re-entry. The tile materials comprising much of the orbiter's outermost layer were mostly air held within near-pure silica fibers, which made it efficient at refractory insulation that absorbed and redirected heat back out into
15642-706: The orbiters were externally practically identical, they had minor differences in their interiors. New equipment for the Orbiters was installed in the same order that they underwent maintenance work, and the newer orbiters were constructed by Rockwell International, under NASA supervision, with some more advanced, lighter in weight, structural elements. Thus, the newer orbiters ( Discovery , Atlantis and Endeavour ) had slightly more cargo capacity than Columbia or Challenger . The Space Shuttle orbiters were assembled at Rockwell's assembly facility in Palmdale, California , at
15800-725: The payload bay doors in its Tulsa, Oklahoma factory, and the body flap in its Columbus, Ohio factory. Subcontractors included Convair in San Diego for the midsection, Fairchild Aircraft in Farmingdale, New York for the vertical stabilizer, Grumman in Bethpage, New York for the wings, Marquardt Corporation in Van Nuys, California for the attitude control propulsion, Aerojet in Rancho Cordova, California for
15958-403: The payload bay doors. With the end of the Shuttle program, plans were made to place the three remaining Space Shuttle orbiters on permanent display. NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. announced the disposition location of the orbiters on April 12, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight and the 30th anniversary of the first flight of Columbia . Discovery went to
16116-415: The pressurised modules, Mir featured several external components. The largest component was the Sofora girder, a large scaffolding-like structure consisting of 20 segments which, when assembled, projected 14 metres from its mount on Kvant -1. A self-contained thruster block, the VDU (Vynosnaya Dvigatyelnaya Ustanovka), was mounted on the end of Sofora and was used to augment the roll-control thrusters on
16274-592: The programme was consolidated with Vladimir Chelomei 's crewed Almaz military space station programme. The docking ports were reinforced to accommodate 20-tonne (22-short-ton) space station modules based on the TKS spacecraft . NPO Energia was responsible for the overall space station, with work subcontracted to KB Salyut , due to ongoing work on the Energia rocket and Salyut 7 , Soyuz-T , and Progress spacecraft . KB Salyut began work in 1979, and drawings were released in 1982 and 1983. New systems incorporated into
16432-452: The project continued until its scheduled completion in 1998. Eleven Space Shuttle missions, a joint Soyuz flight, and almost 1000 cumulative days in space for US astronauts occurred over the course of seven long-duration expeditions. Inside, the 130-tonne (140-short-ton) Mir resembled a cramped labyrinth , crowded with hoses, cables and scientific instruments—as well as articles of everyday life, such as photos, children's drawings, books and
16590-602: The rear landing gear, which supplied the orbiter's SSMEs with liquid hydrogen and oxygen from the external tank. Two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters were mounted in two separate removable pods on the orbiter's aft fuselage, located between the SSMEs and the vertical stabilizer. The OMS engines provided significant thrust for course orbital maneuvers , including insertion, circularization, transfer, rendezvous, deorbit, abort to orbit, and to abort once around . At lift-off, two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) were used to take
16748-437: The record for the most flights aboard Atlantis at five. Astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela who flew aboard Atlantis on STS-61-B mission in 1985 is the only Mexican to have traveled to space. ESA astronaut Dirk Frimout who flew on STS-45 as a payload specialist was the first Belgian in space. STS-46 mission specialist Claude Nicollier was the first astronaut from Switzerland. On the same flight, astronaut Franco Malerba became
16906-503: The record low amount of interim problem reports, with a total of just 54 listed since returning from STS-125. Leinbach added, "It is due to the team and the hardware processing. They just did a great job. The record will probably never be broken again in the history of the Space Shuttle Program, so congratulations to them." Leinbach made a similar report during a post-launch interview on May 14, 2010, saying that there were
17064-469: The remainder of its operational life. Beginning in STS-95 (1998), the flight vehicles' markings were modified to incorporate the NASA "meatball" insignia . The "worm" logotype, which the agency had phased out, was removed from the payload bay doors and the "meatball" insignia was added aft of the "United States" text on the lower aft fuselage. The "meatball" insignia was also displayed on the left wing, with
17222-513: The right wing. The name "Enterprise" in black was painted on the payload bay doors just above the forwardmost hinge and behind the crew module; on the aft end of the payload bay doors was the NASA "worm" logotype in gray. Underneath the rear of the payload bay doors on the side of the fuselage just above the wing was the text "United States" in black with a flag of the United States ahead of it. The first operational orbiter, Columbia , originally had
17380-416: The risk of failure and the cumulative effects of load, the vessels were maintained at 80 percent of the operating pressure as late in the launch countdown as possible, and the launch pad was cleared of all but essential personnel when pressure was increased to 100 percent. The new launch procedure was employed during some of the remaining launches of Atlantis , but was resolved when the two COPVs deemed to have
17538-403: The rocket-powered ascent of the orbiter in order to change the direction of their thrust. Hence, they steered the entire Space Shuttle, as well as providing rocket thrust towards orbit. The aft fuselage also housed three auxiliary power units (APU). The APUs chemically converted hydrazine fuel from a liquid state to a gas state , powering a hydraulic pump which supplied pressure for all of
17696-431: The same markings as Enterprise , although the letters "USA" on the right wing were slightly larger and spaced farther apart. Columbia also had black tiles which Enterprise lacked on its forward RCS module, around the cockpit windows, and on its vertical stabilizer. Columbia also had distinctive black chines on the forward part of its upper wing surfaces, which none of the other orbiters had. Challenger established
17854-480: The second launch attempt, on 19 February 1986 at 21:28:23 UTC, was successful, meeting the political deadline. The orbital assembly of Mir began on 19 February 1986 with the launch of the Proton-K rocket. Four of the six modules which were later added ( Kvant -2 in 1989, Kristall in 1990, Spektr in 1995 and Priroda in 1996) followed the same sequence to be added to the main Mir complex. Firstly,
18012-545: The series, beginning with 1. Therefore, there can never be an OV-100 as it would read "Orbiter Vehicle Series 1 Vehicle 0". Many proposals to build a second generation of orbiters, externally compatible with the current system but internally new, refer to them as "OV-200" or "OV-2xx" in order to differentiate them from the "first generation", the OV-100s. This terminology is informal, and it is unlikely that any Shuttle-derived vehicle built will be given such designation. Challenger
18170-401: The side hatch for entering and exiting the orbiter were also located on the mid-deck, as well as the airlock . The airlock had an additional hatch into the payload bay. This airlock allowed two or three astronauts, wearing their Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) space suits, to depressurize before a walk in space ( EVA ), and also to repressurize and re-enter the orbiter at the conclusion of
18328-552: The sink, toilet, and condensation from the air. The Elektron system generated oxygen electrolytically , venting hydrogen to space. Bottled oxygen and solid fuel oxygen generation (SFOG) canisters, a system known as Vika , provided backup. Carbon dioxide was removed from the air by the Vozdukh system. Other byproducts of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, were removed by activated charcoal filters. Similar systems are presently used on
18486-434: The size of a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 , the Space Shuttle orbiter resembled an airplane in its design, with a standard-looking fuselage and two double delta wings, both swept wings at an angle of 81 degrees at their inner leading edges and 45 degrees at their outer leading edges. The vertical stabilizer of the orbiter had a leading edge that was swept back at a 45-degree angle. There were four elevons mounted at
18644-545: The station and the planned Buran in a manner similar to the US Manned Maneuvering Unit , but it was only used once, during EO-5 . In addition to module-specific equipment, Kvant -2, Kristall , Spektr and Priroda were each equipped with one Lyappa arm , a robotic arm which, after the module had docked to the core module's forward port, grappled one of two fixtures positioned on the core module's docking node. The arriving module's docking probe
18802-475: The station between 1994 and 1995. Mir was occupied for a total of twelve and a half years out of its fifteen-year lifespan, having the capacity to support a resident crew of three, or larger crews for short visits. Following the success of the Salyut programme , Mir represented the next stage in the Soviet Union's space station programme. The first module of the station, known as the core module or base block,
18960-482: The station constantly lost altitude because of slight atmospheric drag , it needed to be boosted to a higher altitude several times each year. This boost was generally performed by Progress resupply vessels, although during the Shuttle- Mir programme the task was performed by US Space Shuttles, and, prior to the arrival of Kvant-1 , the engines on the core module could also accomplish the task. Attitude control
19118-476: The station during the week-long handover period between one crew and the next before returning with the departing crew, the station's life support system being able to support a crew of up to six for short periods. The station was occupied for a total of four distinct periods; 12 March–16 July 1986 ( EO-1 ), 5 February 1987 – 27 April 1989 (EO-2–EO-4), the record-breaking run from 5 September 1989 – 28 August 1999 (EO-5–EO-27), and 4 April–16 June 2000 ( EO-28 ). By
19276-693: The station included the Salyut 5B digital flight control computer and gyrodyne flywheels (taken from Almaz), Kurs automatic rendezvous system , Luch satellite communications system, Elektron oxygen generators, and Vozdukh carbon dioxide scrubbers . By early 1984, work on Mir had halted while all resources were being put into the Buran programme in order to prepare the Buran spacecraft for flight testing. Funding resumed in early 1984 when Valentin Glushko
19434-399: The station's ham radio. Two amateur radio call signs, U1MIR and U2MIR, were assigned to Mir in the late 1980s , allowing amateur radio operators on Earth to communicate with the cosmonauts. The station was also equipped with a supply of books and films for the crew to read and watch. NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger related how life on board Mir was structured and lived according to
19592-410: The station's launch. By the time of its decommission in 2001, the number of known different micro-organisms had grown to 140. As space stations get older, the problems with contamination get worse. Molds that develop aboard space stations can produce acids that degrade metal, glass and rubber. The molds in Mir were found growing behind panels and inside air-conditioning equipment. The molds also caused
19750-520: The system was installed on the other shuttles during their overhauls in the early 1990s. The Space Shuttle orbiter did not carry anti-collision lights , navigational lights , or landing lights , because the orbiter always landed in areas that had been specially cleared by both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Air Force . The orbiter always landed at either Edwards Air Force Base , California or at
19908-406: The systems testing and integration there. The module arrived at the launch site on 6 May, with 1100 of 2500 cables requiring rework based on the results of tests to the ground test model at Khrunichev . In October, the base block was rolled outside its cleanroom to carry out communications tests. The first launch attempt on 16 February 1986 was scrubbed when the spacecraft communications failed, but
20066-574: The third generation of space station design, being the first to consist of more than one primary spacecraft (thus opening a new era in space architecture ). First generation stations such as Salyut 1 and Skylab had monolithic designs, consisting of one module with no resupply capability; the second generation stations Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 comprised a monolithic station with two ports to allow consumables to be replenished by cargo spacecraft such as Progress . The capability of Mir to be expanded with add-on modules meant that each could be designed with
20224-424: The time required to set up, use, and stow. The shower, which featured a plastic curtain and fan to collect water via an airflow, was later converted into a steam room; it eventually had its plumbing removed and the space was reused. When the shower was unavailable, crew members washed using wet wipes, with soap dispensed from a toothpaste tube-like container, or using a washbasin equipped with a plastic hood, located in
20382-453: The timescale of the final retirement of the shuttle fleet was such that having the orbiter undergo this work was deemed uneconomical. It was planned that Atlantis would be kept in near-flight condition to be used as a spares source for Discovery and Endeavour . However, with the significant planned flight schedule up to 2010, the decision was taken to extend the time between OMDPs, allowing Atlantis to be retained for operations. Atlantis
20540-647: The tube so both men and women could use the same toilet. Waste was collected and transferred to the Water Recovery System, where it could be recycled back into drinking water, but was usually used to produce oxygen via the Elektron system. Mir featured a shower, the Bania , located in Kvant -2. It was an improvement on the units installed in previous Salyut stations, but proved difficult to use due to
20698-513: The usual attitude control along the pitch, roll, and yaw axes during all of the flight phases of launching, orbiting , and re-entry. This system also executed any needed orbital maneuvers, including all changes in the orbit's altitude, orbital plane , and eccentricity . These were all operations that required more thrust and impulse than mere attitude control. The forward rockets of the Reaction Control System, located near
20856-470: The vehicle to an altitude of roughly 140,000 feet. Electric power for the orbiter's subsystems was provided by a set of three hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells which produced 28 volt DC power and was also converted into 115 volt 400 Hz AC three-phase electric power (for systems that used AC power ). These provided power to the entire Shuttle stack (including the SRBs and ET) from T-minus 3m30s up through
21014-429: The vehicle, severely damaging over 700 tiles and removing one tile altogether. The crew were instructed to use the remote manipulator system to survey the condition of the underside of the right wing, ultimately finding substantial tile damage. Due to the classified nature of the mission, the only images transferred to the mission control center were encrypted and of extremely poor quality. Mission control personnel deemed
21172-471: Was Moscow Time (MSK; UTC+03 ). The windows were covered during night hours to give the impression of darkness because the station experienced 16 sunrises and sunsets a day. A typical day for the crew began with a wake-up at 08:00 MSK, followed by two hours of personal hygiene and breakfast. Work was conducted from 10:00 until 13:00, followed by an hour of exercise and an hour's lunch break. Three more hours of work and another hour of exercise followed lunch, and
21330-488: Was destroyed during re-entry , leaving just three remaining orbiters. Discovery completed its final flight on March 9, 2011, and Endeavour completed its final flight on June 1, 2011. Atlantis completed the final Shuttle flight, STS-135 , on July 21, 2011. In addition to their crews and payloads, the reusable orbiter carried most of the Space Shuttle System 's liquid-propellant rocket system, but both
21488-464: Was maintained at an orbit between 296 km (184 mi) and 421 km (262 mi) altitude and travelled at an average speed of 27,700 km/h (17,200 mph), completing 15.7 orbits per day. The station was launched as part of the Soviet Union's crewed spaceflight programme effort to maintain a long-term research outpost in space, and following the collapse of the USSR, was operated by
21646-537: Was a dedicated Department of Defense mission. It flew one other mission, STS-61-B (the second shuttle night launch) before the Challenger disaster temporarily grounded the shuttle fleet in 1986. Among the five Space Shuttles flown into space, Atlantis conducted a subsequent mission in the shortest time after the previous mission (turnaround time) when it launched in November 1985 on STS-61-B, only 50 days after its previous mission, STS-51-J in October 1985. Atlantis
21804-548: Was a success, with the crew completing five spacewalks totaling 37 hours to install new cameras, batteries, a gyroscope and other components to the telescope. This was the final mission not to rendezvous with the ISS . The longest mission flown using Atlantis was STS-117 , which lasted almost 14 days in June 2007. During STS-117, Atlantis ' crew added a new starboard truss segment and solar array pair (the S3/S4 truss), folded
21962-405: Was also made available to governments of countries such as France and India. Only the last three of the programme's fourteen missions consisted of an expedition to Mir but none resulted in an extended stay in the station: Various European astronauts visited Mir as part of several cooperative programmes: In the early 1980s, NASA planned to launch a modular space station called Freedom as
22120-404: Was capable of returning approximately 16,000 kg (35,000 lb) of cargo to Earth. The orbiter's maximum glide ratio / lift-to-drag ratio varied considerably with speed, ranging from 1:1 at hypersonic speeds , 2:1 at supersonic speeds , and reaching 4.5:1 at subsonic speeds during approach and landing. Individual Space Shuttle orbiters were named in honor of antique sailing ships of
22278-640: Was connected to the socket that had previously been occupied by the core module's dorsal panel, which was by this point barely supplying 1 kW. The other panel, originally intended to be launched on Priroda , replaced the Kristall panel on Kvant -1 in November 1997, completing the station's electrical system. Mir was maintained in a near circular orbit with an average perigee of 354 km (220 mi) and an average apogee of 374 km (232 mi), travelling at an average speed of 27,700 km/h (17,200 mph) and completing 15.7 orbits per day. As
22436-423: Was equipped with only two Konus drogues, which were required for dockings. This meant that, prior to the arrival of each new module, the node would have to be depressurised to allow spacewalking cosmonauts to manually relocate the drogue to the next port to be occupied. The other two expansion modules, Kvant -1 in 1987 and the docking module in 1995, followed different procedures. Kvant -1, having, unlike
22594-472: Was especially true in the interior of the payload bay. The orbiter's structure was made primarily from aluminum alloy , although the engine thrust structure was made from titanium alloy . The later orbiters ( Discovery , Atlantis and Endeavour ) substituted graphite epoxy for aluminum in some structural elements in order to reduce weight. The windows were made of aluminum silicate glass and fused silica glass, and comprised an internal pressure pane,
22752-466: Was estimated by former RKA General Director Yuri Koptev in 2001 as $ 4.2 billion over its lifetime (including development, assembly and orbital operation). Mir was authorised by a 17 February 1976 decree, to design an improved model of the Salyut DOS-17K space stations. Four Salyut space stations had been launched since 1971, with three more being launched during Mir' s development. It
22910-565: Was flown and installed to the ISS by Atlantis during the mission STS-104 in July 2001. The successful installation of the airlock gave on-board space station crews the ability to stage repair and maintenance spacewalks outside the ISS using U.S. EMU or Russian Orlan space suits . The first mission flown by Atlantis after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was STS-115 , conducted during September 2006. The mission carried
23068-507: Was given to the set of structural components manufactured to replace those used in the construction of Endeavour ; however, the contract for these was canceled shortly afterwards, and they were never completed. The "096" and "097" designators were given to structural test articles that were canceled, but while they exist in some NASA records, the NASA History Office has no official record of STA-096 and STA-097. In addition to
23226-421: Was launched in 1986 and followed by six further modules. Proton rockets were used to launch all of its components except for the docking module , which was installed by US Space Shuttle mission STS-74 in 1995. When complete, the station consisted of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components. Power was provided by several photovoltaic arrays attached directly to the modules. The station
23384-575: Was launched with two collapsible, 15 m (49.2 ft) long arrays (providing 4 kW each) which were intended to be moved to Kvant -1 and installed on mounts which were attached during a spacewalk by the EO-8 crew in 1991. This relocation was begun in 1995, when the panels were retracted and the left panel installed on Kvant -1. By this time all the arrays had degraded and were supplying much less power. To rectify this, Spektr (launched in 1995), which had initially been designed to carry two arrays,
23542-470: Was maintained by a combination of two mechanisms; in order to hold a set attitude, a system of twelve control moment gyroscopes (CMGs, or "gyrodynes") rotating at 10,000 rpm kept the station oriented, six CMGs being located in each of the Kvant-1 and Kvant-2 modules. When the attitude of the station needed to be changed, the gyrodynes were disengaged, thrusters (including those mounted directly to
23700-507: Was modified to hold four, providing a total of 126 m (1360 ft ) of array with a 16 kW supply. Two further arrays were flown to the station on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-74 , carried on the docking module. The first of these, the Mir cooperative solar array, consisted of American photovoltaic cells mounted on a Russian frame. It was installed on the unoccupied mount on Kvant -1 in May 1996 and
23858-489: Was not perfect, being disturbed by five separate effects: Mir 's environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) provided or controlled atmospheric pressure , fire detection, oxygen levels, waste management and water supply. The highest priority for the ECLSS was the station's atmosphere, but the system also collected, processed, and stored waste and water produced and used by the crew—a process that recycles fluid from
24016-536: Was ordered by the Central Committee 's Secretary for Space and Defence to orbit Mir by early 1986, in time for the 27th Communist Party Congress . It was clear that the planned processing flow could not be followed and still meet the 1986 launch date. It was decided on Cosmonaut's Day (12 April) 1985 to ship the flight model of the base block to the Baikonur Cosmodrome and conduct
24174-429: Was originally intended to be used as a Structural Test Article (STA), rather than a flight-capable orbiter; as such, the numbering was changed when it was rebuilt. Enterprise , on the other hand, was intended to be rebuilt into a flight-capable orbiter; it was found to be cheaper to rebuild STA-099 than OV-101, so it remained unflown. The designations were not altered, despite these changes in plans. An "OV-106" designation
24332-507: Was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program . Operated from 1981 to 2011 by NASA , the U.S. space agency, this vehicle could carry astronauts and payloads into low Earth orbit , perform in-space operations, then re-enter the atmosphere and land as a glider , returning its crew and any on-board payload to the Earth. Six orbiters were built for flight: Enterprise , Columbia , Challenger , Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour . All were built in Palmdale, California , by
24490-440: Was planned that the station's core module ( DOS-7 and the backup DOS-8 ) would be equipped with a total of four docking ports; two at either end of the station as with the Salyut stations, and an additional two ports on either side of a docking sphere at the front of the station to enable further modules to expand the station's capabilities. By August 1978, this had evolved to the final configuration of one aft port and five ports in
24648-488: Was subsequently swapped for one flight of each Discovery and Endeavour in the flight manifest. Atlantis had completed what was meant to be its last flight, STS-132 , prior to the end of the shuttle program, but the extension of the Shuttle program into 2011 led to Atlantis being selected for STS-135 , the final Space Shuttle mission in July 2011. Atlantis is currently displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex . NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced
24806-421: Was then retracted, and the arm raised the module so that it could be pivoted 90° for docking to one of the four radial docking ports. Photovoltaic (PV) arrays powered Mir . The station used a 28 volt DC supply which provided 5-, 10-, 20- and 50- amp taps. When the station was illuminated by sunlight, several solar arrays mounted on the pressurised modules provided power to Mir' s systems and charged
24964-411: Was then used for ten flights from 1988 to 1992. Two of these, both flown in 1989, deployed the planetary probes Magellan to Venus (on STS-30 ) and Galileo to Jupiter (on STS-34 ). With STS-30 Atlantis became the first Space Shuttle to launch an interplanetary probe. During the launch of STS-27 in 1988, a piece of insulation shed from the right solid rocket booster struck the underside of
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