Space Shuttle Discovery Docks with the International Space Station (Flight 7A.1)
August 13, 2001 Korolev, Moscow region
The U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery conducting Flight 7A.1 within the
framework of the Space Station assembly program docked to the International
Space Station (ISS).
A contact with the axial docking port of the U.S. Laboratory Module
Destiny of the ISS occurred on August 12, 2001 at 22:42 Moscow time.
The Expedition Two crew made up of Yury Usachev (S.P. Korolev RSC Energia
Research Cosmonaut – Crew Commander), and U.S. astronauts Jim Voss (Flight
Engineer 1) and Susan Helms (Flight Engineer 2) conducted necessary
operations to prepare the Space Station for docking and provided the
rendezvous and docking processes control aboard the Station.
Upon opening of the transfer hatches on August 13, 2001 at 0:40 the
ISS-2, ISS-3 and Space Shuttle crews met in orbit.
The on-orbit International Space Station of about 240.6 tons currently
consists of Russian vehicles Progress M1-6, Soyuz TM-32, Russian Service
module Zvezda, Functional Cargo Block Zarya, U.S. modules Unity, Destiny
and Space Shuttle Discovery. The Station onboard systems operate in
an estimated mode.
Ten persons are working aboard the Space Station including the ISS-2
three-men crew, ISS-3 crew – U.S. astronaut Frank L. Culbertson (ISS-3
Commander) and Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov (ISS-3 Pilot and
Soyuz TM Commander) and Mikhail Tyurin (S.P. Korolev RSC Energia Research
Cosmonaut – ISS-3 Flight Engineer), Discovery crew – U.S. astronauts
Scott Horowitz (Commander), Friderick Sturckow (Pilot), Patrick Forrester
and Daniel Barry (Mission Specialists).
The docking operations were controlled by the Lead Operational Control
Team (LOCT) located in near-Moscow Mission Control Center (MCC-M), Korolev,
Moscow area. The flight director of the ISS is pilot-cosmonaut V.A.
Soloviev. The mission control is provided in interaction with the U.S.
Mission Control Center (MCC-H), Houston.
According to the LOCT data, the International Space Station travels
in orbit with the following parameters: inclination of 51.6ü, maximum
and minimum altitudes of 412.3 and 384.8 km, respectively. The orbital
period is 92.3 minutes.
