STS-114
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the first shuttle mission in over two years (and the first since the Columbia disaster) on a mission to resupply the International Space Station. Before docking at the station, Discovery performs the first Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, a shuttle somersault devised by mission planners to allow the space station crew to extensively photograph the shuttle’s thermal tiles to identify areas of concern. As it turns out, some tile repairs are conducted on this mission before the shuttle can return home. Aboard Discovery for this flight are Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot James Kelly, and mission specialists Charles Camarda, Wendy Lawrence, Soichi Noguchi, Stephen Robinson and Andrew Thomas.
The longest-serving astronaut retires
A veteran of the Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs, 74-year-old astronaut John Young retires from NASA, capping off a 42-year career with the space agency. Young joined NASA in 1962 after hearing President Kennedy’s historic directive to launch a manned mission to the moon, and only three years later Young flew with Mercury veteran Gus Grissom on Gemini 3, the first manned two-person NASA mission. Young commanded Gemini 10 in 1966, was the command module pilot for the moon-orbiting Apollo 10 mission, and in 1972, Young commanded Apollo 16, landing in the moon’s mountainous Descartes region. Young commanded the first space shuttle mission, the maiden flight of Columbia in 1981, and commanded the ninth shuttle flight in 1983. Young had also served as the Chief Astronaut, determining crew assignments and making personnel decisions. In the wake of the Challenger disaster in 1986, Young became one of NASA’s most outspoken critics, and was reassigned to the position of special assistant for engineering, operations and safety – a move he regarded as a political one.
STS-107: Columbia down
After nearly 17 days in orbit performing experiments in the SPACEHAB module its cargo bay, Space Shuttle Columbia deorbits to return to Earth for a planned landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During reentry, a gaping hole in the leading edge of Columbia’s left wing – damage caused by a piece of foam shaken loose from the external fuel tank during liftoff – allows superheated plasma to leak into the shuttle’s superstructure, tearing the vehicle apart. The entire crew (Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Payload Commander Michael Anderson, mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark, and payload specialist Ilan Ramon) is lost. At first, ground controllers are only aware of a series of sensor failures in the wing, followed by a loss of contact; ground-based cameras finally spot an expanding cloud of debris falling at supersonic speeds. As with the loss of Challenger in 1986, an extensive investigation and review of NASA procedures follows the loss of Columbia and her crew, resulting in a two-year grounding of the remaining shuttle fleet and a pause in construction of the International Space Station.
STS-107
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off for a scientific research mission with the SPACEHAB module – a successor to Spacelab – in its cargo bay, for a flight lasting almost 17 days. Columbia’s crew for this flight is Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Payload Commander Michael Anderson, mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark, and payload specialist Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut. During liftoff, a piece of insulated foam is vibrated loose from the shuttle’s external fuel tank, causing critical damage to the leading edge of Columbia’s left wing. The foam collision is noticed and discussed internally at NASA, but is not deemed a threat by ground controllers.
STS-113 / ISS Expedition 6
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 112th shuttle flight, a two-week mission to resupply and exchange crews at the International Space Station. Another structural tress to dissipate excess heat into space is assembled and attached. Aboard Endeavour for her 19th flight are Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, mission specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, and ISS Expedition 6 crewmembers Kenneth Bowersox, Nikolai Budarin and Don Pettit. Returning to Earth aboard the shuttle are Expedition 5 crewmembers Valeri Korzun, Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev.
This is the last successful shuttle mission for over two years.
STS-112
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 111th shuttle flight, an 11-day construction mission to the International Space Station. Another major structural truss is assembled and attached, serving the primary function of radiating built-up waste heat away from the station and into space. Aboard Atlantis for her 26th flight are Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pamela Melroy, and mission specialists David Wolf, Piers Sellers, Sandra Magnus and Fyodor Yurchikhin.
STS-111 / ISS Expedition 5
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 110th shuttle flight, a mission to exchange the crew of the International Space Station. Scheduled supplies and other equipment are also transported to the station. Aboard Endeavour for her 18th flight are Commander Kenneth Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, mission specialists Franklin Chang-Diaz and Philippe Perrin, and ISS Expedition 5 crewmembers Valeri Korzun, Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev. Returning to Earth aboard the shuttle are ISS Expedition 4 crewmembers Yuri Onufriyenko, Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch.
STS-110: giving ISS its backbone
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 109th shuttle flight, an 11-day mission to add the integrated truss “backbone” to the International Space Station. In addition to assembling and attaching this major part of the station, a mobile transport is added for the station’s remote manipulator arm, allowing the arm to roll from one end of the station to the other for whatever functions may be required. Aboard Atlantis for her 25th flight are Commander Michael Bloomfield, Pilot Stephen Frick, and mission specialists Jerry Ross, Steven Smith, Ellen Ochoa, Lee Morin and Rex Walheim.
STS-109: Hubble’s new wings
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off on the 108th shuttle flight, the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Numerous enhancements are carried aboard the shuttle to replace existing parts on the decade-old orbiting telescope, including new cooling systems and a new set of solar power arrays. Aboard Columbia for her 27th flight are Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, Payload Commander John Grunsfeld, and mission specialists Nancy Currie, James Newman, Richard Linnehan and Michael Massimino.
Space Shuttle Columbia makes her final landing at the end of this 11-day mission.
STS-108 / ISS Expedition 4
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 107th shuttle flight, a resupply and crew rotation mission to the International Space Station. Aboard Endeavour for her 17th flight are Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, mission specialists Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani, and ISS Expedition 4 crewmembers Yuri Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch. Returning to Earth via Endeavour are ISS Expedition 3 crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Turin and Vladimir Dezhurov.
STS-105 / ISS Expedition 3
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 106th shuttle flight, a mission to exchange crews aboard the International Space Station. The shuttle’s cargo bay carries a logistics module containing more equipment for the ISS laboratory module, as well as storage racks to be installed elsewhere in the station. Aboard Discovery for her 30th flight are Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Frederick Sturckow, missions specialists Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester, and ISS Expedition 3 crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Turin and Vladimir Dezhurov, who remain aboard the station. Returning to Earth via Discovery are ISS Expedition 2 crewmembers Yury Usachev, James Voss and Susan Helms.
STS-104
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 105th shuttle flight, a 13-day flight to resupply and install new hardware on the International Space Station. The station gains a new airlock and an equipment pallet – formerly part of the Spacelab module – which is attached to the station’s exterior. Aboard Atlantis for her 24th flight are Commander Steven Lindsey, Pilot Charles Hobaugh, and mission specialists Michael Gernhardt, James Reilly and Janet Kavandi.
STS-100: fully armed & operational station
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 104th shuttle flight, a 12-day mission to resupply and continue construction of the International Space Station. The primary addition to the station is the Canadian-built remote manipulator arm, derived from the design that has been flown throughout the Space Shuttle program, to be affixed to the station itself. Aboard Endeavour for her 16th flight are Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Jeff Ashby, and mission specialists Chris Hadfield, Scott Parazynski, John Phillips, Umberto Guidoni and Yuri Lonchakov.
STS-102 / ISS Expedition 2
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 103rd shuttle flight, a mission to exchange crewmembers aboard the International Space Station. In the cargo bay is a logistics module containing consumables, supplies, and equipment racks to be installed in the Destiny laboratory module. Aboard Discovery for her 29th flight are Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot James Kelly, mission specialists Andrew Thomas and Paul Richards, and ISS Expedition 2 crewmembers James Voss, Susan Helms and Yuriy Usachev. The Expedition 1 crewmembers (William Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev) return to Earth aboard the shuttle.
STS-98: fulfilling Destiny
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 102nd shuttle flight, a mission to install the American-made Destiny laboratory module on the International Space Station. Once attached to its connection point on the Unity module, Destiny is powered up and pressurized, adding more space for scientific experiments to the station. Aboard Atlantis for her 22nd flight are Commander Kenneth Cockrell, Pilot Mark Polansky, and mission specialists Robert Curbeam, Thomas Jones and Marsha Ivins.
STS-97: increase the power!
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on an 11-day mission to add a major solar power array to the International Space Station. For the first time, a crew has already arrived via Soyuz and taken up residence on the station prior to the shuttle’s arrival. Another external truss is added, and the first large solar power array – 240 feet long – is added to it, more than quintupling the power available aboard the station. Aboard Endeavour for her 15th flight are Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Michael Bloomfield, and mission specialists Joseph Tanner, Marc Garneau and Carlos Noriega.
STS-92: opening the ISS for business
On the 100th flight of the American shuttle program, Space Shuttle Discovery pays a 13-day visit to the International Space Station, making final preparations before the station’s first crew arrives. A new shuttle docking port is added, and the first section of external truss is bolted onto the station, the beginning of a structure that will support the larger solar power panels to be installed during later construction missions. Discovery’s 28th crew is Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Pam Melroy, and mission specialists Koichi Wakata, Leroy Chiao, Peter Wisoff, Michael Lopez-Alegria and William McArthur.
STS-106: getting the place ready
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 99th shuttle mission, a 12-day visit to the still-unoccupied International Space Station. Spacewalks and work in the station’s pressurized compartments make the final connections between the Russian-launched Zvezda service module and the rest of the station, and over three tons of supplies – most flown aboard Atlantis, but some contained in an unmanned Progress supply ship which has already automatically docked to the station – are transferred to the station. Atlantis’ 21st crew is Commander Terrence Wilcutt, Pilot Scott Altman, and mission specialists Daniel Burbank, Edward Lu, Richard Mastracchio, Yuri Malenchenko and Boris Morokov. In 2003, Lu and Malenchenko will return as the station’s seventh full-time residents.
STS-101
Carrying over 3,000 pounds of supplies for future station crews, Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on a ten-day mission to the International Space Station. The supplies include exercise equipment and general housekeeping gear; Atlantis boosts the still-under-construction vacant station’s orbit by 27 miles. Aboard Atlantis for her 20th flight are Commander James Halsell, Pilot Scott “Doc” Horowitz, and mission specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, James Voss, Susan Helms and Yury Usachev.
STS-99
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 97th shuttle flight, and the only one on the 2000 launch schedule not devoted to construction of the International Space Station. Instead, Endeavour carries out an 11-day radar topography mission, though the 200-foot radar mast deployed from the cargo bay changes Endeavour’s center of mass and necessitates an unusually high usage of the orbiter’s fuel to keep the vehicle and payload properly oriented. Endeavour’s 14th crew is Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dominic Gorie, and mission specialists Janet Kavandi, Janice Voss, Mamoru Mohri and Gerhard Thiele.
STS-103: return to Hubble
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on an eight-day mission to retrieve, service and redeploy the Hubble Space Telescope. This routine planned upgrade for Hubble sees the shuttle crew swapping out the $2,000,000,000 telescope’s CPU, installing a new one with 20 times the processing power of the original, during an eight-hour spacewalk; another eight-hour spacewalk sees crewmembers removing an analog data recorder to replace it with a digital device with greater capacity. Christmas 1999 is spent placing Hubble back into its orbit. Aboard Discovery for her 27th flight are Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Scott Kelly, and mission specialists Steven Smith, Michael Foale, John Grunsfield, Claude Nicollier and Jean-Francois Clervoy.
STS-93
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off on a five-day mission to deploy the Chanda X-Ray Observatory satellite. The first American space mission with a woman in the commander’s seat, this flight also includes some ultraviolet astronomy experiments, and sees the first test of HDTV equipment in space. Aboard Columbia for her 26th mission are Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby, and mission specialists Steven Hawley, Catherine Coleman and Michel Tognini. After landing, Columbia is removed from the orbiter rotation with the intention of permanent retirement, though a demanding launch schedule convinces NASA to upgrade Columbia and return the flagship of the shuttle fleet to service in 2002.
STS-96: ISS under construction
NASA launches Space Shuttle Discovery on the first of only three 1999 shuttle flights, a ten-day mission to continue preparing the International Space Station for full-time duty. 80 hours are spent inside the station, transferring supplies into the existing modules for future crews, and spacewalks are conducted to perform necessary tasks outside the station. Aboard Discovery for her 26th flight are Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Rick Husband, and mission specialists Ellen Ochoa, Tammy Jernigan, Daniel Barry, Julie Payette and Valery Tokarev.
STS-88: laying the ISS cornerstone
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off to begin the construction of the International Space Station. Endeavour conducts a rendezvous with the already-launched Zarya module and attached the Unity station module to it. The two modules’ external connections are completed during a spacewalk, and the station is powered up for the first time on December 7th. Endeavour’s 13th crew is Commander Robert Cabana, Pilot Frederick Sturckow, and mission specialists Nancy Currie, Jerry Ross, James Newman and Sergei Krikalev. Cabana and Krikalev are the first humans to enter the International Space Station, but since the fledgeling facility lacks long-term habitation facilities, it is left unmanned at the end of the 12 day mission.
STS-95: John Glenn returns to space
The first American to orbit Earth returns to orbit aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. During a ten-day mission with the SPACEHAB laboratory module installed in the cargo bay, the crew conducts medical experiments with Mercury astronaut John Glenn, comparing his results against the results of identical experiments performed with one of his crewmates, to determine the effect of weightlessness on older space travelers. At the age of 77, Glenn is the world’s oldest space traveler (and is still a sitting member of the U.S. Senate at the time of his flight). Discovery’s crew on her 25th flight is Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Steven Lindsey, mission specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephen Robinson and Pedro Duque, and payload specialists Chiaki Mukai and John Glenn.
STS-91: last stop at Mir
Space Shuttle Discovery becomes the last American shuttle to visit space station Mir during a ten-day mission launched on this date. The historic mission is marred slightly by a communications malfunction which makes live TV transmissions from orbit impossible. In addition to retrieving American science experiment packages from Mir, a cargo-bay-mounted experiment to detect dark matter is also conducted. Supplies are also off-loaded onto Mir. Aboard Discovery for her 24th flight are Commander Charles Precourt, Pilot Dominic Gorie, and mission specialists Wendy Lawrence, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Janet Kavandi and Valery Ryumin. Mir astronaut Andrew Thomas, the last American to visit the Russian station, returns to Earth aboard Discovery.
STS-90
NASA launches Space Shuttle Columbia on the 90th shuttle mission, in which 16 days are spent in orbit conducting studies of the human nervous system in a weightless environment. This is the final flight of the 20-year-old Spacelab module aboard a space shuttle, though some elements of Spacelab are later incorporated into the International Space Station. Columbia’s 25th crew is Commander Richard Searfoss, Pilot Scott Altman, and mission specialists Richard Linnehan, Dafydd Rhys Williams and Kathryn Hire, and payload specialists Dr. Jay Buckey and Dr. James Pawelczyk. (The crew, along with backup crewmembers, is pictured here during a visit to the set of Star Trek: Voyager.)
STS-89: eighth Shuttle-Mir docking
Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on a nine-day mission to dock with the Russian Mir space station. Routine resupply activities are carried out, along with crew rotations. Endeavour’s crew for her 12th flight consists of Commander Terrence Wilcutt, Pilot Joe Edwards, Payload Commander Bonnie Dunbar, and mission specialists Michael Anderson, James Reilly, Salizhan Sharipov and Andrew Thomas. Thomas remains on Mir, while David Wolf returns to Earth aboard Endeavour.
STS-87
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off on the 88th shuttle flight, a mission lasting nearly 16 days to conduct microgravity studies and deploy a space science payload which begins spinning after the shuttle’s manipulator arm releases it. Plans to match the shuttle to the satellite’s rotation and recapture it are called off in favor of a no-less-risky seven-hour, two-man spacewalk to slow the satellite’s rotation and retrieve it. Aboard Columbia for her 24th flight are Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Steven Lindsey, and mission specialists Winston Scott, Kalpana Chawla, Takao Doi and Leonid Kadenyuk.
STS-86: seventh Shuttle-Mir docking
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on an 11-day mission to dock with the Mir space station. In addition to routine supplies, replacement parts are brought to Mir to swap out with equipment damaged during the various incidents and accidents endured by Mir Expedition 23. The first-ever joint American/Russian spacewalk is conducted to undertake some of the repair activity and to try to find the location of the Spektr module hull breach. Aboard Atlantis for her 19th flight are Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Michael Bloomfield, and mission specialists Vladimar Titov, Scott Parazynski, Jean-Loup Chretien, Wendy Lawrence and David Wolf. Wolf remains on Mir to join the Expedition 24 crew, while Mir crewmember Michael Foale returns to Earth aboard Atlantis, having served 145 unusually eventful days in space.