STS-102 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-102 flew in March 2001; its primary objectives were resupplying the ISS and rotating the Expedition 1 and Expedition 2 crews. It was Discovery's 29th flight. The first EVA performed on the mission, at eight hours and 56 minutes, held the title of the longest spacewalk ever undertaken until the 17th of December 2024 when it was surpassed by Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong during the Shenzhou 19 spaceflight.

Crew

PositionLaunching crewLanding crew
CommanderUnited States Jim Wetherbee Fifth spaceflight
PilotUnited States James Kelly First spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1United States / Australia Andy Thomas Third spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 Flight EngineerUnited States Paul Richards Only spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3Russia Yuri V. Usachov Expedition 2 Fourth and last spaceflightUnited States William Shepherd Expedition 1 Fourth and last spaceflight
Mission Specialist 4United States James Voss Expedition 2 Fifth and last spaceflightRussia Yuri Gidzenko Expedition 1 Second spaceflight
Mission Specialist 5United States Susan Helms Expedition 2 Fifth and last spaceflightRussia Sergei Krikalev Expedition 1 Fifth spaceflight

Crew seat assignments

SeatLaunchLandingSeats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–8 are on the mid-deck. Seat 8 was located to the starboard (right) side of Seat 7.
1Wetherbee
2Kelly
3ThomasUnused
4Richards
5VossThomas
6HelmsKrikalyov
7UsachovGidzenko
8UnusedShepherd

Unique to this flight, Shepherd, Gidzenko, and Krikalev were all seated together on the mid-deck in special "recumbent couches" that allowed them to stay in a laid-back reclining position during landing, instead of the usual upright seats. It was thought that after their four months in space, their bodies would be deconditioned and the recumbent position would minimize the impacts of returning to a gravity environment. Because of the special seats, Thomas moved to the normal number 5 seat on the mid-deck to operate the side hatch as necessary. Future shuttle missions would not use the recumbent couches.

Spacewalks

ICC STS-102

EVA 1

  • Personnel: Voss and Helms
  • Start: 11 March 2001, 05:12 UTC
  • End: 11 March 2001, 14:08 UTC
  • Duration: 8 hours, 56 minutes

EVA 2

  • Personnel: Thomas and Richards
  • Start:13 March 2001, 05:23 UTC
  • End: 13 March 2001, 11:44 UTC
  • Duration: 6 hours, 21 minutes

Mission highlights

Space Station Assembly Flight ISS-5A.1 was the first use of the Multi Purpose Logistics Module (Leonardo) to bring supplies to the station. The steel modules were equipped with up to 16 International Standard Payload Racks for installation in the US Lab. Also carried an Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC). The ICC had the External Stowage Platform-1 mounted on its underside. ESP-1 was placed on the port side of 'Destiny' as a storage location for ORUs. The mission also included two spacewalks to relocate the units carried up by the ICC to the Destiny module exterior.

Wake-up calls

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. 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.

Flight DaySongArtist/Composer
Day 2"Living the Life"Rockit Scientists
Day 4"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"Starship
Day 6"From A Distance"Nancy Griffith
Day 7"Free Fallin'"Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Day 8"Should I Stay or Should I Go"The Clash
Day 12"Moscow Windows"Unknown

See also

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

External links