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STS-98

STS-98

Atlantis' Canadarm grapples Destiny, prior to the module's installation on the ISS
Names	Space Transportation System-98
Mission type	ISS assembly
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2001-006A
SATCAT no.	26698
Mission duration	12 days, 21 hours, 21 minutes, 0 seconds
Distance travelled	8,500,000 kilometers (5,300,000 mi)
Orbits completed	171
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch mass	115,529 kilograms (254,698 lb)
Landing mass	90,225 kilograms (198,912 lb)
Payload mass	14,515 kilograms (32,000 lb)
Crew
Crew size	5
Members	Kenneth D. Cockrell Mark L. Polansky Robert L. Curbeam, Jr. Marsha S. Ivins Thomas D. Jones
Start of mission
Launch date	7 February 2001, 23:13 (2001-02-07UTC23:13Z) UTC
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Landing date	20 February 2001, 20:33 (2001-02-20UTC20:34Z) UTC
Landing site	Edwards Runway 22
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	365 kilometers (197 nmi)
Apogee altitude	378 kilometers (204 nmi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Period	92 minutes
Docking with ISS
Docking port	PMA-3 (Unity nadir)
Docking date	9 February 2001, 16:51 UTC
Undocking date	16 February 2001, 14:05 UTC
Time docked	6 days, 21 hours, 14 minutes
L-R: Robert Curbeam, Mark Polansky, Marsha Ivins, Kenneth Cockrell and Thomas Jones Space Shuttle program ← STS-97 (101) STS-102 (103) →

STS-98 was a 2001 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the first human spaceflight launch of the 21st century. STS-98 delivered to the station the Destiny Laboratory Module. All mission objectives were completed and the shuttle reentered and landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base on 20 February 2001,^[1][2] after twelve days in space, six of which were spent docked to the ISS.

Crew[edit]

Crew notes[edit]

Mark C. Lee was scheduled to fly as mission specialist 1 on his fifth trip to space, but due to undisclosed reasons, he was removed from this flight. His replacement was Robert Curbeam.

Launch attempts[edit]

Mission highlights[edit]

The crew continued the task of building and enhancing the International Space Station by delivering the U.S. Destiny Laboratory Module. It was the first NASA lab to be permanently used since the days of Skylab nearly three decades earlier. It was manufactured by Boeing at the Michoud Assembly Facility and the Marshall Space Flight Center in 1997. Upon transport to Kennedy Space Center's industrial buildings, it was fitted with equipment, machines, racks and cables at the Operations and Checkout Building and Space Station Processing Facility. The U.S. laboratory module is 28 feet (8.5 m) long and 14 feet (4.3 m) wide. It is made from aluminum, and comprises three cylindrical sections and two end-cones that contain the hatch openings through which astronauts enter and exit the module. The ends are colored blue and white respectively for the crew to navigate easily. A 20-inch (510 mm)-diameter window is located on one side of the center module segment.

During the mission, the shuttle docked to PMA 3 located on the nadir of Node 1. The crew relocated PMA 2 to the holding area on the Z1 truss temporarily, before using the Shuttle's robotic arm to lift out the 14.5 ton steel module out of the Shuttle's payload bay, and permanently berthed it on the forward hatch of Node 1. Spacewalks conducted by Thomas Jones and Robert Curbeam reattached electrical cables to the aluminum^[5] hull and connecting ports on Destiny, and also checked the laboratory's nadir window. PMA 2 was replaced to the forward hatch of Destiny.

The Shuttle spent six days docked to the station while the laboratory was attached and three spacewalks were conducted to complete its assembly. The mission also saw the 100th spacewalk in U.S. spaceflight history. STS-98 occurred while the first station crew was aboard the new space station.

Space walks[edit]

Wake-up calls[edit]

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Gemini program, which was first used to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15.^[6] Each track is specially chosen, often by their families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.^[6][7]

Popular culture and media[edit]

STS-98 was the designation for the fictional NASA mission to destroy an asteroid in Armageddon (1998 film).^{[citation needed]}

See also[edit]

• International Space Station
• List of human spaceflights
• List of International Space Station spacewalks
• List of Space Shuttle missions
• List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999
• Outline of space science

References[edit]

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 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

External links[edit]

• NASA mission summary Archived 30 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• STS-98 Post Flight Presentation