STS-120

COSPAR ID	2007-050A
SATCAT no.	32272
Crew
Members	7
End of mission

STS-120 is the current Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS), that launched on October 23, 2007.^[1] It delivered the Harmony module, and will reconfigure a portion of the station in preparation for future assembly missions. STS-120 is being flown by Space Shuttle Discovery, and is the 23rd space shuttle mission to the ISS. The completion of the mission will leave eleven flights remaining in the Space Shuttle program until its end in 2010, excluding two as-yet-unconfirmed Contingency Logistic Flights.^[2]

Crew

• Pamela Melroy (3) - Commander
• George D. Zamka (1) - Pilot
• Scott E. Parazynski (5) - Mission Specialist 1
• Stephanie Wilson (2) - Mission Specialist 2
• Douglas H. Wheelock (1) - Mission Specialist 3
• Paolo A. Nespoli (1) - Mission Specialist 4 -  Italy ESA

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to, and including this mission.^[3]

Launching ISS Expedition 16 Crew

• Daniel M. Tani (2) - ISS Flight Engineer

Landing ISS Expedition 16 Crew

• Clayton Anderson (1) - ISS Flight Engineer

Crew notes

Pamela Melroy is the second woman to command a space shuttle mission, after Eileen Collins, and the third woman selected as shuttle pilot (Susan Still Kilrain left NASA without commanding a mission).^[4][5] Additionally, Peggy Whitson, who is commanding the ISS Expedition 16 crew that will receive STS-120, is the first female ISS commander.^[6][7] STS-120 and Expedition 16 is the first time that two female mission commanders are in orbit at the same time.^[8][9][10]

Prior to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the original crew manifest for STS-120 was:

• James D. Halsell, Commander
• Alan G. Poindexter, Pilot
• Wendy Lawrence, Mission Specialist
• Stephanie Wilson, Mission Specialist
• Piers Sellers, Mission Specialist
• Michael Foreman, Mission Specialist

The STS-120 mission patch was designed by Michael Foreman before he was reassigned to STS-123.

Mission parameters

• Mass: TBD
• Perigee: TBD
• Apogee: TBD
• Inclination: 51.6°^[11]
• Period: 91.6 minutes^[11]

Mission payloads

Harmony (Node 2)

STS-120 delivered launch package 10A to the International Space Station (ISS).^[12] It consisted of the U.S. Harmony module (also known as Node 2), (with four DC-to-DC Converter Unit (DDCU) racks and three Zero-g Storage Racks (ZSR) installed), a Power and Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) for the station's robot arm, and a Shuttle Power Distribution Unit (SPDU). Harmony was the first pressurized habitable module delivered to the station since the Pirs docking compartment was installed in August 2001.

Since STS-120 docked to the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA-2) on the forward port of the Destiny Laboratory Module, installation of Harmony occurs in two stages: STS-120 installed Harmony to the port node of the Unity module. After Discovery un-docks, the station's robotic arm will detach PMA-2 from Destiny, and move it to the forward port of Harmony. Following the relocation of PMA-2, the robotic arm will then move Harmony from its initial position, to its final position on the forward port of Destiny.^[13]

The final positioning of Harmony allows for the future installation of the European Columbus and Japanese Kibō research modules, which will be attached to the side ports of Harmony.

P6 relocation

During STS-120, the P6 solar arrays will be moved from the Z1 truss on top of Unity, to their final position at the port end of the truss.

Outreach

STS-120 carries the signatures of over 500,000 students that participated in the 2007 Student Signatures in Space program, jointly sponsored by NASA and Lockheed Martin.^[14][15] In celebration of Space Day last May, students from over 500 schools around the world signed giant posters. Their signatures were scanned onto a disk, and the disk has been manifested on the STS-120 mission.^[14]

Also during STS-120, the lightsaber used by actor Mark Hamill in the 1983 film Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi will be flown to the station, and returned to Earth. Stowed on-board Discovery for the length of the mission, the fictional Jedi weapon is being flown in honor of the 30th anniversary of director George Lucas' Star Wars franchise.^[16] In a bit of coincidence, Lucas' first film was titled THX 1138, and STS-120 launched at 11:38 a.m.

On August 28, 2007, Chewbacca from the Star Wars films presented the lightsaber to NASA officials from Space Center Houston, in an official ceremony at Oakland International Airport.^[16] The lightsaber was then flown to Houston, where it was greeted by Stormtroopers. After STS-120, the lightsaber will be on display at Space Center Houston.^[16]

Mission background

At the time of the Columbia disaster, STS-120 was scheduled for early 2004. It was delayed repeatedly until October 23, 2007.

NASA originally scheduled the launch for October 20, but due to the International Space Station program requirement, launch was delayed to October 23.^[17]

In light of the small gouge to the underside of Endeavour that occurred on STS-118, in September of 2007, NASA managers announced that they expected to add a fifth spacewalk to the STS-120 mission, designed to test a heat-shield repair tool.^[18][19] The repair technique was originally scheduled for a flight in 2008, but following STS-118, it was decided to move up the testing. The repair tool, called a TPS (thermal protection system) repair ablator dispenser (T-RAD), has never been tested in space, so the spacewalk allows managers to evaluate its effectiveness in low gravity environments.^[20]

The mission marks:^[11]

• 151st manned US space launch.
• 120th space shuttle flight since STS-1.
• 95th post-Challenger mission.
• 7th post-Columbia mission.

Mission timeline

Launch preparations

Following STS-118 in August of 2007, NASA managers decided to make modifications to the External tank to be used on STS-120, and modify the liquid oxygen feed-line brackets.^[21] The change involved a new low-density foam application, and thinner gaskets. Shuttle Program Managers decided to do this to reduce the foam loss from the area that had been noted since STS-114's Return to Flight mission in 2005. STS-118 had a small gouge on the belly of the orbiter due to a chunk of foam that impacted during launch in August of 2007. The week of September 17, NASA managers decided to delay Discovery's rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), due to a hydraulic fluid leak from the right main landing gear strut. The strut repair was successfully completed on September 19, 2007. Discovery then moved to the VAB, and was mated to the External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters. Perched atop the Mobile Launcher Platform, Discovery arrived at Launch complex 39A on September 30, 2007.^[22][22]

The crew of STS-120 arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, October 7, 2007 and began final preparations, including the terminal countdown demonstration test, or "Dress Rehersal", scheduled for October 7 through October 10.^[23][24][25]

On October 9, 2007, NASA's Engineering and Safety Center, an independent review group set up after the 2003 Columbia disaster, advised replacement of three of Discovery's reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels on the leading wing edge, due to a loss of small amounts of the protective silicon-carbide coating.^[26][27] NASA reviewed the issue of oxidation of the panels for several months, using a variety of specialized testing methods, including thermography.^[28][29] These tests showed that the panels had not worsened over the course of the past two flights of Discovery, and the orbiter project engineers concluded in August that Discovery was safe to launch as is.^[27][28][30] Had a decision been made to repair the panels, the orbiter would have been rolled back to the VAB, delaying the launch.^[26][27][28]

On October 16, 2007, NASA Managers completed the Flight Readiness Review, and held a press conference to announce the mission plan.^[31] The issue of the RCC panels raised by NESC was found to be of little immediate concern, because the NESC took pre-flight thermography data from Endeavour and compared it with Discovery, but there was no commonality in flight history between the two vehicles.^[32] The research showed no significant difference between the panels prior to STS-114, and the panels today, which indicates the coating has not worsened during the previous flights, adding confidence that Discovery's RCC panels have had no deterioration in the flights since.^[32] NASA announced on the main shuttle page that "The Space Shuttle Program has determined that Discovery's astronauts can safely carry out their mission without having to replace the panels."^[33]

Tuesday October 23 (Flight Day 1, Launch)

Discovery launched on time at 11:38 a.m. EDT (15:38 UTC).^[34][35] In the countdown's final minutes, a piece of ice, measuring 4 inches (10.2 cm) x .5 inches (1.3 cm) was seen on the hydrogen umbilical between the orbiter and the external tank.^[36] The inspection team was called back to the pad (a contingency that has been practiced, and used before), to get a closer look at the ice build-up. NASA flight controllers deemed it too small to pose a threat to the thermal protection system. The ice was attached to a Kapton purge barrier near the LH2 umbilical pyrotechnic canister closeout.^[37] It had been shown in tests that ice on this liner, sometimes called a "baggie", would likely come off at main engine ignition.^[38] Had it been on other metal surfaces around the liner, this may have posed a threat of staying on and breaking off at a critical part of launch. Despite these issues, the launch continued as planned. The forecast for launch initially was a 60% chance of weather prohibiting launch, and although the launch team weather officers were tracking an incoming storm, the weather remained favorable for launch.^[39] Present for the launch was George Lucas, to see off the Star Wars lightsaber.^[40] In a press briefing following launch, NASA managers noted a few "events" involving debris, but they occurred later in ascent, after the period of maximum aerodynamic velocity and speed, and were not concerning.^[41]

Wednesday, October 24 (Flight day 2)

The crew of STS-120 spent their first full day in space by performing the RCC survey, using the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS), and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS). ^[42] The crew also worked on various tasks such as inspecting the Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs, or spacesuits) that will be used on the EVAs, and doing some preliminary work to get ready for docking with the International Space Station on Thursday.^[43] Deputy Shuttle Program Manager and Mission Management Team (MMT) chairman John Shannon noted during the status briefing that the preliminary data the team had reviewed showed no items of concern, and the ascent imagery showed no significant losses prior to SRB separation.^[44][45] Shannon said there were several items the team was waiting for higher resolution imagery to assess, including a possible protruding gap filler, and some external tank foam losses, but there was nothing to indicate any problems.^[37] Shannon also noted that a vapor trail was seen coming off the external tank for several seconds during launch, but noted that this was a condition seen during both STS-114, and STS-121, and was found to be condensate coming off the back side of the tank. Due to the temperature and humidity, combined with the angle of the sun for Discovery's launch, the plume appeared more dramatic in some of the imagery. This was considered an "expected condition", and Shannon confirmed it was of no concern.^[37][45]

Thursday, October 25 (Flight day 3)

The crew of STS-120 worked through the rendezvous procedures in the morning leading to the rendezvous pitch maneuver which began at 11:34 UTC. Following the RPM, the crew was given the "Go" to dock with the station, and successful docking to the International Space Station occurred at 12:40 UTC.^[46][47] Following docking, the joint crews conducted a station safety review, and Tani's custom Soyuz seatliner was transferred from Discovery to the Soyuz TMA-11, with Anderson's seat liner taken into Discovery. This marked the official end of Expedition 16 for Anderson, and the start of Tani's increment.^[48] Just before the two crews signed off to sleep, they were informed that after preliminary review of the RPM photography, focused inspection of the orbiter's heat shield would not be required.^[48][49] During the MMT briefing, Shannon confirmed that initial evaluation of the available data showed Discovery to be a "pretty clean vehicle". He also confirmed they were not working any issues or items of interest. Shannon said the piece of ice that was looked at prior to launch dislodged during main engine ignition, and as it fell, the ice appeared to graze the underside of the orbiter at the beginning of ascent, but the area around the impact site was in good condition, and the ice did not appear to have caused any damage.^[49] Shannon said the teams would continue to evaluate the imagery and data, but the shuttle was in a good configuration.^[50]

Friday, October 26 (Flight day 4)

The two crews started the day by preparing for the mission's first spacewalk, which began at 10:02 UTC, and ended at 16:16 UTC. Parazynski and Wheelock successfully completed all EVA activities, including preparing Harmony for removal from the payload bay.^[51] Wilson, Tani, and Anderson controlled the station's robotic arm, moving Harmony out of the bay and onto the port side of the Unity node. At 15:38 UTC, Harmony was officially mated to the space station.^[51][52] The station's new addition adds Template:Ft3 to m3 to the station's living volume, an increase of almost 20%, from Template:Ft3 to m3 to Template:Ft3 to m3.^[53][54]

At the Mission Management Team meeting, managers cleared Discovery's heat shield for reentry, and verified that focused inspection was not required, but noted that late inspection will still be performed on flight day 13 following undocking.^[52][53][55] John Shannon mentioned that managers have decided to add a task to the second EVA, asking the astronauts to visually inspect the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) on the starboard side, as the joint has registered some vibration for the past month and a half. While the friction is not constant or severe, managers will have Tani remove the insulation covers from the joint to photograph the swing bolts on the joint since Tani would be near the area during the EVA.^[53]

Saturday, October 27 (Flight day 5)

The two crews worked to prepare Harmony for entry in the morning, connecting power and data cables, and at 12:24 UTC, the hatch was opened, and the crew was allowed to enter.^[56] Whitson and Nespoli entered first, wearing masks, and installed a temporary air duct to the node, to allow the air inside to circulate through the station's filters.^[56] Until the air is fully exchanged, occupancy of the node is limited to only a few crew members at a time, and they are not to remain inside for extended periods. Some of the work the crew has to do inside the node is to remove approximately 700 screws and bolts that are holding down equipment and panels, placed for security during launch, but not needed in space.^[56] After allowing the ventilation system work for several hours, the two crews participated in a press conference with CBS, FOX News, and WHAM-TV from inside Harmony.^[57][58]

Sunday, October 28 (Flight day 6)

The two crews awoke at 05:08 UTC, and began preparing for the second EVA. Parazynski and Tani began the spacewalk at 09:32, a half hour ahead of the planned timeline.^[59] The pair started with the P6 truss, removing the attachments to the Z1 truss, which allowed Wilson and Wheelock to use the station's robotic arm to move the truss to a position where it was "parked" for the night.^[60][59] Joking to Wilson "Don't drop it!", Parazynski then moved on and installed handrails onto Harmony, while Tani went to inspect some items requested by the managers, including handrails on a Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) cart, that was considered as a possible cause of Rick Mastracchio's glove tear on STS-118.^[60] Tani noted the handrail appeared to be intact, with no obvious sharp edges.^[59] Tani then moved on to the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) that has had an intermittent vibration for over a month. After removing the cover from the joint, Tani called down to the team to let them know he saw some metal shavings, and some wear patterns and discoloration on one of the rings inside the joint.^[61] "It's like the result that you get with the metal, iron filings and you put a magnet under it and they stand straight up."^[59] Tani collected some of the shavings onto some tape, which will return to Earth with the shuttle for further analysis.^[59] Managers decided to add a task to Tuesday's EVA, having Parazynski inspect the port (left side) SARJ, using photography and video to compare it to the starboard SARJ inspected by Tani.^[62]

Monday, October 29 (Flight day 7)

The two crews used the morning to move the P6 truss from its overnight position on the station's robotic arm, over to the shuttle's robotic arm. The crew then moved the station's arm along the mobile transporter to an outboard work site that allows attachment of the P6 truss to its new location on the P5 truss on Tuesday.^[62][63] Managers on the ground had Whitson perform an experiment on the shavings Tani collected from the SARJ on Sunday's EVA, putting a magnet under a slip of paper, and testing to see if the shavings collected on the paper, to ascertain if they were metal.^[64] The test confirmed the particles collected by Tani were ferrous. This information allowed the managers on the ground to rule out some possibilities of the origin of the particles, such as the thermal covers, which are made of aluminized mylar.^[65][66]

The Mission Management Team discussed the SARJ issues with the ISS team, and decided to add an extra docked day to the mission, between flight days 11 and 12.^[67] The new plan changed the objectives of EVA four from the heat shield repair materials testing, to a more thorough inspection of the starboard SARJ.^[68] With the new flight plan, Discovery would undock on November 5, with a landing on Wednesday, November 7, at approximately 5:11 a.m. EST.^[66][68]

Tuesday, October 30 (Flight day 8)

The two crews spent the morning preparing for the mission's third EVA, which began at 08:45 UTC. The EVA completed the installation of the P6 solar arrays onto the P5 truss, and the rest of the EVA activities were accomplished successfully, with the EVA ending at 15:53 UTC. Once the P6 solar array was attached, the process of deploying the arrays began. The first set of arrays, 2B, was successfully deployed with no issues, but during the deployment of the 4B array, the crew halted when they noticed an abnormality. Initial images taken by the crew and station cameras show what appears to be a tear in a small portion of the array.^[69][70] During a press briefing, ISS Program Manager Mike Suffredini said the crew took high resolution images of the solar array, and the managers would analyze the images overnight to determine a course of action.^[71] Sufredini mentioned that with the array in the 90% unfurled position, it was still generating 97% of the expected power to the station, only slightly less than a fully unfurled array.^[72]

Wednesday, October 31 (Flight day 9)

The crew began the day working through a variety of tasks, including preparing for the fourth EVA, installing a Zero Gravity Stowage Rack in Harmony, and working with some of the experiments on board.^[73] Nespoli and Melroy participated in a Public Affairs event (PAO), and received a call from the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano. The entire crew took part in a second PAO event, fielding calls from news agencies from the United States, Europe, and Russia. Around 15:00 UTC, mission control informed the crew that Thursday's planned EVA would be postponed to either Friday, or perhaps Saturday, to allow for a new EVA plan to be worked out, which would include troubleshooting of the P6 solar arrays.^[74]

Planned mission timeline

Taken from the STS-120 Press Kit.^[75]

Flight day 10: Shuttle and Station Transfers • EVA‐4 by Parazynski and Wheelock (Inspection of starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint)

Flight Day 11: Crew off duty periods • Shuttle and Station transfers • EVA Procedure Review • EVA 5 Campout by Whitson and Malenchenko

Flight day 12: Shuttle and Station Transfers • EVA‐5 by Whitson and Malenchenko (SSPTS Cable Stow, Destiny Lab/Pressurized Mating Adapter‐2 Stow, Removal of Harmony Active Common Berthing Mechanism Cover, Reconfigure S0 Truss/Unity Node 1 and Zarya Module/Pressurized Mating Adapter‐1 Power and Jumper Cables).

Flight day 13: Crew Off Duty Periods • Farewells and Hatch Closing.

Flight day 14: Undocking from ISS Pressurized Mating Adapter‐2 and Flyaround • Final Separation from the International Space Station • OBSS Unberth and Late Inspection of Discovery’s Thermal Protection System • OBSS Final Berthing.

Flight day 15: Cabin Stow • Flight Control System Checkout • Reaction Control System Hot‐Fire Test • Crew Deorbit Briefing • Launch and Entry Suit Checkout • Recumbent Seat Set Up for Anderson • Ku‐Band Antenna Stow.

Flight day 16: Deorbit Preparations • Payload Bay Door Closing • Deorbit Burn • Kennedy Space Center Landing.

Extra-vehicular activity

ESA Esperia mission

In addition to his participation in the ISS assembly mission during the STS-120 flight, Paolo Nespoli will conduct science research as part of the Esperia mission for ESA.^[76] According to the STS-120 press kit, Nespoli will carry out a number of experiments on behalf of the European science community.^[75][76] Two of these experiments (Chromosome‐2 and Neocytolysis) are sponsored by ESA. The other three (HPA, FRTL‐5 and SPORE) are sponsored by the Italian Space Agency. Chromosome‐2, Neocytolysis and HPA are experiments in the field of human physiology. FRTL‐5 and SPORE are biology experiments.

Wake-up calls

A tradition for NASA spaceflights since the days of Gemini, mission crews are played a special musical track at the start of each day in space. Each track is specially chosen, often by their family, and usually has special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.^[77]

• Day 2: Lord of the Dance, performed by John Langstaff, played for Commander Pam Melroy.WAV MP3

• Day 3: Dancing in the Moonlight performed by King Harvest, played for Daniel Tani.WAV MP3
• Day 4: Rocket Man performed by Elton John, played for Doug Wheelock.WAV MP3
• Day 5: Bellissime Stelle (Italian for "Beautiful Stars") performed by Andrea Bocelli, played for Paolo Nespoli.WAV MP3
• Day 6: What a Wonderful World performed by Louis Armstrong, played for Scott Parazynski.WAV MP3
• Day 7: One By One performed by Wynton Marsalis, played for Stephanie Wilson.WAV MP3
• Day 8: Malagueña Salerosa performed by Chingon, played for George Zamka.WAV MP3
• Day 9: Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volaré) performed by Domenico Modugno, played for Nespoli.WAV MP3

Contingency mission

STS-320 is the designation given to the Contingency Shuttle Crew Support mission which would be launched in the event Space Shuttle Discovery becomes disabled during STS-120.^[2] It would be a modified version of the STS-122 mission, which would involve the launch date being brought forward. If it is needed, it would be launched no later than January 5, 2008. The crew for this mission would be a four-person subset of the full STS-122 crew.^[78]

Media

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See also

• Space Shuttles
• 2007 in spaceflight
• List of ISS spacewalks
• List of space shuttle missions
• List of spacewalks and moonwalks
• List of human spaceflights chronologically

References

External links

• Official STS-120 Mission Page
• STS-120 Overview
• STS-120 Fact Sheet - NASA
• NASA STS-120 Launch countdown milestones and timeline