Status Report

STS-102 Launch Announcement from RSC Energia

By SpaceRef Editor
March 8, 2001
Filed under ,

US Space Shuttle Discovery was launched at 14:42:08, Moscow Time, from
a launch facility at Kennedy Space Center to the International Space
Station (ISS). According to ISS assembly sequence this flight is designated
as 5A.1, while in NASA classification this Space Shuttle mission is
referred to as STS-102.
The orbiter carries a crew of seven: Russian cosmonaut Yury Usachev,
NASA astronauts James Wetherbee (Commander), James Kelley (Pilot), Andrew
Thomas, Paul Richards, James Voss, Susan Helms (Mission Specialists).
The objective of the mission is to bring to ISS the Expedition Two crew
(ISS-2) consisting of Yury Usachev (Commander) James Voss (Flight Engineer
1), Susan Helms (Flight Engineer 2) and to return to Earth the Expedition
One crew (ISS-1), who have been working on-board the space station since
November 2 of the last year. This crew consist of Russian flight engineers
Sergei Krikalev, Yury Gidzenko and US astronaut William Shepherd (Commander).
In addition to this, Discovery will deliver to the Space Station some
equipment for outfitting US orbital segment, as well as equipment stowed
in the Italian logistics module Leonardo making its first trip to ISS,
such as individual seat liners for ISS-2 crew, personal radiation monitoring
devices, water, air and food supplies for the space station crew.
The docking of the Space Shuttle Orbiter with the International Space
Station is scheduled for March 10, 2001 at 8:35 Moscow Time.
ISS vehicle weighing about 111,7 tons is currently composed of Soyuz
TM-31 manned spacecraft, Russian Service Module Zvezda, Functional and
Cargo Module (FGB) Zarya, US module Unity, US module Destiny and unmanned
logistics vehicle Progress M-44. The on-board systems of the vehicle
operate normally.
ISS-1 crew conducts work on-board the space station in accordance with
the ISS mission plan. The last few days saw the completion of unloading
Progress M-44 vehicle, performance of the first major Russian-German
scientific experiment "Plasma Crystal", medical research and
physical exercise, replacement of dust collectors in the Service Module
"Zvezda", preparations for space station docking with Discovery
Orbiter.
Based on the data from LOCT (Lead Operations Control Team), ISS is flying
in an orbit with the following parameters: inclination 51.6*, maximum
and minimum altitudes, respectively, 395.1 and 372.3 km. The orbital
period of the space station is 92.0 min.

SpaceRef staff editor.