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Space Shuttle
Flight Details 10
STS-91 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The flight of Discovery on STS-91 launched on time at 18:06 ET on 06/02/98. This was the last shuttle mission to the Russian Mir space station. U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomas, who was launched to Mir on STS-89 in January 1998 concluded a 3-year joint American-Russian project aboard Mir that saw American astronauts log a total of 907 days aboard Mir (starting with Norman Thagard, who was launched on Soyuz TM-21 in March 1995). The flight of STS-91 included a variety of joint experiments aboard the Spacehab module in the Discovery's cargo bay, some involving the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center on 06/12/98.
STS-95 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: This mission marked the historic return to space of John H. Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth as part of Project Mercury in 02/1962. Glenn was the subject of experiments on the effects of spaceflight on aging. The Discovery crew also conducted other medical and scientific experiments in the Spacehab module, and released and later recovered the SPARTAN science satellite, which took special photographes and other scientific readings of the solar winds. Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center on 11/07/1998.
STS-88 (Endeavour)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The space shuttle Endeavour began a whole new era of United States manned spaceflight on 12/04/98 with the launch of a mission to attach Node 1 (named "Unity") and Pressured Mating Adapters (PMA) 1 and 2 to the Zarya control module that was launched by an unmanned Russian Proton rocket on 11/20/98. So begins actual construction of the International Space Station. During a series of spectacular space walks, astronauts Ross and Newman maneuvered around the atached Unity and Zarya modules to attached electrical connections, communication antennas, and other permanent hardware. On 12/10/98, the shuttle astronauts entered the first two space station elements and begin to activate systems and install other components inside Unity and Zarya. During a third space walk later in the mission, astronauts Ross and Newman stowed various tools on the exterior of Unity and Zarya to be used during later space station construction missions. The following day, Endeavour backed away from the combined Unity/Zarya structure, leaving the beginnings of the International Space Station free floating in space. If all goes as planned, another Russian Proton rocket will place the Russian-built energy module into orbit in mid-1999. Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center near midnight on 12/15/98.
STS-96 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: Discovery launched on time on 05/27/99 on a supply mission to the fledgling International Space Station (Unity & Zarya modules). The astronauts carried some 4,000 pounds of supplies, equipment, computers, and clothes that will be used by future space station crews. An 8-hour space walk was performed by astronauts Barry and Jernigan to attach two 5-foot cranes (one American, one Russian) to the outside of the station modules. The Discovery crew then entered the space station modules to deliver the various supplies and equipment and make some repairs inside the modules in preparation for future manned missions to the space station. Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center on 06/06/99.
STS-93 (Columbia)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: Columbia blasted off shortly after midnight on 07/23/99 on a mission to deploy the long-delayed Chandra X-ray Observatory. Chandra was the heaviest payload taken into space by the space shuttle up to this date, and will give scientists a new window into the universe to supplement the unbelievable amount of information and stunning views already being provided by the Hubble Space Telescope. Columbia's commander, Astronaut Eileen Collins, was the first woman to command a U.S. space mission. (Russian Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the sole occupant of the 06/1963 Vostok 6 flight.) After Columbia's successful night landing at the Kennedy Space Center on 07/27/99, technicians found several small hole is the nozzle of one of Columbia's main engines that had caused a hydrogen leak during launch that could have resulted in an early engine shutdown and a dangerous aborted launch.
STS-103 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: After months of delays to replace chaffed electrical wires and broken fuel lines, plus poor launch-day weather, the space shuttle Discovery finally lifted off on the evening of 12/19/99 on its mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts Smith, Foale and Grunsfeld, Nicollier alternated in conducting a total of three space walks to replace stabilizing gyroscopes, which had failed earlier in the year, and perform other upgrades/servicing of the HST that were originally planned for a June 2000 mission. The flight was completely without any problems, and the space shuttle Discovery landed in the evening of 12/27/99 at the Kennedy Space Center.
STS-99 (Endeavour)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The launch of Endeavour, which was originally planned for 01/31/2000, was postponed until 02/11/2000 to allow technicians time to replace a faulty computer that controls the timing of critical events during the pre-launch sequence. The launch went off on 02/11/2000 after a short 13-minute hold to verify that hairline cracks in the thermal insulation of the external tank wouldn't pose a problem. During the 11-day mission, the astronauts radar mapped 43.5 million square miles of the Earth's surface, or almost 75 percent, at a precision never before achieved. by the same surfaces simultaneously with a radar antenna inside the shuttle's cargo bay and another at the end of a 197-foot mast projecting from the cargo bay, the images can be combined by computers on the ground to produce 3-dimensional maps of the Earth. Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center just after sunset on 02/22/2000.
STS-101 (Atlantis)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The purpose of this mission is to rehabilitate several International Space Station systems that have deteriorated during the delay in the launching of the critical Russian-bult service module and to continue outfitting the Unity and Zarya modules that are already in orbit. Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Station without incident on 05/19/2000. On 05/21/2000, astronauts Voss and Williams conducted a nearly 7-hour spacewalk to fix American and Russian cranes that had been attached to the outside of the Unity/Zarya modules on a previous mission. Later in the mission, the Atlantis crew entered the space station to replace dead batteries and stock up more supplies and equipment that will be used once the station becomes partially operational, hopefully later this year. Lastly, Atlantis gave the space station modules an altitude boost of about 27 miles to counteract the slowly declining altitude (about 1 mile each week) caused by higher-than-normal levels of solar activity. Atlantis made a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center after a very successful and uneventful mission.
STS-106 (Atlantis)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: Space shuttle Atlantis lifted off right on time on a mission to prepare the growing International Space Station for permanent occupancy. The latest module, the Russian-built "Zvedza" service module, was launched in July 2000. In addition to moving more than 6,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the station, Astronaut Lu and Cosmonaut Malenchenko performed a 6-hour space walk to attach equipment and various electrical cables to the outside of the Zvezda module. Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center at 3:56 am on 09/20/2000.
STS-92 (Discovery)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: The objective of this mission was to install the first permanent latticework truss, the backbone of the space station, to the Unity/Zarya/Zvesda complex now in orbit. The station's solar arrays will be attached to the Z-1 truss during future shuttle missions. The Z-1 truss was installed by astronauts McArthur and Chiao during a 6-hour space walk on 10/14/2000. Astronauts Wisoff and Lopez-Alegria then performed a 7-hour space walk the following day to attach electrical and other connections to the Z-1 truss. During a third, 6-hour space walk on 10/15/2000, astronauts McArthur and Chiao connected a third payload mating adapter (PMA-3) to the Unity module. The PMAs serve as docking ports/adapters. The following day, astronauts Wisoff and Lopez-Alegria made a fourth space walk to finish off some remaining tasks outside the space station modules and also to test a jet packback that could be used by future space walkers. Discovery later undocked from the space station modules and prepared for its return on Earth. Because of high crosswinds at the Kennedy Space Center, Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
STS-97 (Endeavour)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: Endeavour was launched on 11/30/2000 to dock with the International Space Station to mount the first set of U.S.-made solar panels in a series of three space walks by astronauts Tanner and Noriega. The solar panel, which measures 240 feet across, is the largest structure ever assembled in space and will provide the primary power for the still-growing space station. The crew of Endeavour also visited with the three astronaut/cosmonaut crew of the Space Station Expedition 1 mission, which was launched in a Soyuz spacecraft on 10/31/2000. They helped the Expedition 1 crew power up the Unity module and finish connections of electrical cables from the solar array. Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center shortly after sunset on 12/11/2000.
STS-98 (Atlantis)Mission Statistics:
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Mission Highlights: Space shuttle Atlantis lifted off on 02/07/2001 carrying the U.S. laboratory "Destiny" and thousands of pounds of equipment and supplies for the Expedition One crew of the International Space Station. On 02/10/2001, the Destiny lab was docked to the Unity module of the space station and, during a 7 1/2 hour space walk, astronauts Jones and Curbeam began attaching electrical and other connections to the outside of Destiny. In two later spacewalks, the astronauts moved a docking adapter to the end of the Destiny lab and completed electrical and other hook-ups of the lab to the rest of the space station complex. The hatch between Destiny and the rest of the space station was opened for the first time on 02/11/2001. Atlantis's return to Earth was delayed almost three days because of bad landing weather, and the shuttle finally landed at Edwards AFB on 02/20/2001.
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