 | STS-98 Credit - NASA
| 7 February 2001 23:13 GMT. Landing Date: 2001-02-20 20:33:00. Flight Time: 12.89 days. Other Name: ISS-5A. Flight Up: STS-98. Flight Back: STS-98. Call Sign: Atlantis. Crew: Cockrell, Curbeam, Ivins, Jones, Polansky. Program: ISS. Of note: Delivered Destiny module, making the ISS heavier than Mir. ISS Assembly flight. Launch delayed from January 18 and February 6. International Space Station assembly mission; delivered the Destiny and PMA-2 modules. Destiny was an American ISS module, an 8.4 meter long and 4.2 meter wide cylindrical structure with a mass of 15 tonnes. It was to function as a science and technology module and the primary control module for the ISS. The shuttle orbiter was placed in an initial 74 x 323 km x 51.6 deg orbit. At 2357 GMT the OMS engines fired for the OMS-2 burn which raised Atlantis' orbit to 204 x 322 km x 51.6 deg. Atlantis docked with the Station at 1651 GMT on February 9 at the PMA-3 port on Unity's nadir. At 1500 GMT on Feb 10 Marsha Ivins used the RMS arm to unberth the PMA-2 docking port from Unity. Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam then conducted three spacewalks on Februay 10 to 14 to attach the Destiny and PMA-2 modules to the station. The crew also delivered over a tonne of food, fuel and equipment to the ISS. Atlantis undocked from Alpha at 1406 GMT on February 16. Atlantis landed at Edwards AFB on February 20; plans to land on February 18 and 19 were called off due to persistent wind problems at Kennedy Space Center. The deorbit burn was at 1927 GMT and lowered the orbit from 370 x 386 km to about 50 x 380 km. The nominal entry interface at 122 km came at 2002 GMT and touchdown on runway 22 was at 20:33 GMT. On March 1 Atlantis was flown on the back of NASA's SCA 911 carrier aircraft to Altus AFB, Oklahoma, en route to Kennedy. STS-98 Chronology - 2001 Feb 7 - STS-98 Crew: Cockrell, Polansky, Curbeam, Ivins, Jones. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Payload: Atlantis F23. Mass: 90,225 kg (198,912 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 12.89 days. Perigee: 183 km (113 mi). Apogee: 337 km (209 mi). Inclination: 51.30 deg. Period: 89.71 min.
ISS Assembly flight. Launch delayed from January 18 and February 6. International Space Station assembly mission; delivered the Destiny and PMA-2 modules. Destiny was an American ISS module, an 8.4 meter long and 4.2 meter wide cylindrical structure with a mass of 15 tonnes. It was to function as a science and technology module and the primary control module for the ISS. The shuttle orbiter was placed in an initial 74 x 323 km x 51.6 deg orbit. At 2357 GMT the OMS engines fired for the OMS-2 burn which raised Atlantis' orbit to 204 x 322 km x 51.6 deg. Atlantis docked with the Station at 1651 GMT on February 9 at the PMA-3 port on Unity's nadir. At 1500 GMT on Feb 10 Marsha Ivins used the RMS arm to unberth the PMA-2 docking port from Unity. Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam then conducted three spacewalks on Februay 10 to 14 to attach the Destiny and PMA-2 modules to the station. The crew also delivered over a tonne of food, fuel and equipment to the ISS. Atlantis undocked from Alpha at 1406 GMT on February 16. Atlantis landed at Edwards AFB on February 20; plans to land on February 18 and 19 were called off due to persistent wind problems at Kennedy Space Center. The deorbit burn was at 1927 GMT and lowered the orbit from 370 x 386 km to about 50 x 380 km. The nominal entry interface at 122 km came at 2002 GMT and touchdown on runway 22 was at 20:33 GMT. On March 1 Atlantis was flown on the back of NASA's SCA 911 carrier aircraft to Altus AFB, Oklahoma, en route to Kennedy.
- 2001 Feb 7 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #01
Atlantis' five astronauts blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center at sunset tonight to deliver the U.S. Laboratory Destiny to the International Space Station (ISS), the cornerstone of scientific research on the complex and the new command and control center for Station operations. Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Mark Polansky and Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam, ...more...
- 2001 Feb 8 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #02
The five-member crew of Atlantis is in its first full day in space continuing its pursuit of the International Space Station. After a slightly abbreviated sleep period, Atlantis' astronauts were awakened at 6:13 a.m. Central time as the Shuttle trailed the Station by approximately 2,000 statute miles (3,200 kilometers). The first wakeup call of the flight was "Where You At", a jazz selection by Pilot Mark Polansky's late uncle, Zoot Sims. The first full day in orbit for Astronauts Ken Cockrell, Polansky, Marsha Ivins, ...more...
- 2001 Feb 8 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #03
With the 16-ton, bus-sized Destiny laboratory now virtually weightless in its cargo bay, the Space Shuttle Atlantis today drew ever closer to Destiny's permanent home, the International Space Station, and the five shuttle astronauts prepared for the complex construction job to come. More than two thousand miles ahead, the three-member space station crew -- passing ...more...
- 2001 Feb 10 - EVA STS-98-1 Crew: Jones, Curbeam. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.32 days. Spacecraft: International Space Station.
Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam began the first STS-98 spacewalk from the ODS airlock on Atlantis, supervising the ISS/Destiny assembly operations. The airlock was depressurized at 1544 GMT. PMA-2 was berthed on Z1 at 1650 GMT; Destiny was unberthed from the payload bay at 1735 GMT and docked to Unity at 1900 GMT. At 1935 GMT Curbeam was connecting ammonia coolant lines when a leaking connector sprayed ammonia into space, contaminating his suit. He was ordered to stay in sunlight to bake off the ammonia. At around 2311 GMT the spacewalkers returned to the airlock, closing the hatch at 2318 GMT. A new depressurization for decontamination was begun at 2342 GMT, with the airlock fully depressurized at 2350 GMT. The hatch was then opened and closed quickly at 2351-2352 GMT, to flush the airlock of any ammonia residue. This last event was not counted as an EVA by NASA.
- 2001 Feb 12 - EVA STS-98-2 Crew: Jones, Curbeam. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.28 days. Spacecraft: International Space Station.
STS-98 EVA-2 began at 1555 GMT on February 12 with depressurization of the airlock. The astronauts went to battery power at 1559 GMT. The PMA-2 docking port was attached to Destiny at 1728 GMT. The Power Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) was removed from its location on an adaptive payload carrier on the port side of the payload bay (probably bay 5P) and installed on Destiny. The PDGF will be used by the Station's robot arm, and is an improved grapple fixture with electrical power and data ports. The hatch was closed at 2240 GMT and the airlock was repressurized at 2249 GMT
- 2001 Feb 14 - EVA STS-98-3 Crew: Jones, Curbeam. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.23 days. Spacecraft: International Space Station.
On the third STS-98 EVA the airlock was depressurized at 1443 GMT, with hatch open at around 1445 and battery power at 1448. The spare SASA S-band antenna was unberthed from an adapter beam in the payload bay (around bay 4P?) and installed on Z1. The +X (starboard) TCS radiator on P6, launched on the previous mission, was deployed at 1649 GMT. The astronauts completed the spacewalk with repressurization of the airlock at 2013 GMT
- 2001 Feb 18 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #22
Atlantis' astronauts were awakened just before 4 a.m. Central time Sunday, ready for a homecoming to the Kennedy Space Center later today, weather permitting. With the U.S. Laboratory Destiny operating in excellent shape as the newest addition ...more...
- 2001 Feb 18 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #23
Atlantis' homecoming was delayed today until Monday as gusty winds at the Kennedy Space Center forced a waveoff of the Shuttle's landing at the Florida spaceport. Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Mark Polansky and Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam, ...more...
- 2001 Feb 19 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #24
After an extra day in orbit, Atlantis' astronauts will try again to return to the Kennedy Space Center today to wrap up a 4.9 million mile mission to deliver the U.S. Laboratory Destiny to the International Space Station (ISS). Preliminary weather forecasts indicate the possibility of gusty winds and decks of broken clouds at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Cape this afternoon, similar to the conditions that forced a waveoff of the Shuttle's return yesterday. Atlantis has two opportunities today for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center. ...more...
- 2001 Feb 19 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #25
For the second day in a row, Atlantis' astronauts were foiled in their attempt to land at the Kennedy Space Center by high winds which caused another 24-hour delay in their homecoming until Tuesday. As was the case on Sunday, flight controllers tried to bring Commander Ken Cockrell, ...more...
- 2001 Feb 20 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #26
Atlantis' astronauts are hoping that the third time will be the charm today as an improving weather forecast at the Kennedy Space Center holds hope for the Shuttle's return to the Florida spaceport following two consecutive days of weather related wave-offs. The Kennedy Space Center remains the primary target for today's landing, with two ...more...
- 2001 Feb 20 - STS-98 Mission Status Report #27
Atlantis' astronauts glided to a belated but textbook touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base, California today, wrapping up a 5.3 million mile mission to deliver the U.S. Laboratory Destiny to the International Space Station (ISS). With Commander Ken Cockrell at the controls, Atlantis darted through high clouds ...more...
Bibliography and Further Reading
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Report (Internet Newsletter), Harvard University, Weekly, 1989 to Present. Essential internet newsletter recording worldwide weekly space events. Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
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