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STS-98 was a 2001
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...
mission to the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
(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 Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is ...
on 20 February 2001, after twelve days in space, six of which were spent docked to the ISS.


Crew


Crew notes

Mark C. Lee Mark Charles Lee USAF Colonel, (born August 14, 1952) is a former NASA astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions. He retired from the Air Force and NASA on July 1, 2001. Early life Lee was born August 14, 1952, in Viroqua, Wisconsin, a ...
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


Mission highlights

The crew continued the task of building and enhancing the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
by delivering the U.S. ''Destiny'' Laboratory Module. It was the first NASA lab to be permanently used since the days of
Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations ...
nearly three decades earlier. It was manufactured by
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...
at the
Michoud Assembly Facility The Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) is an manufacturing complex owned by NASA in New Orleans East, a district within New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. Organizationally it is part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and is curren ...
and the
Marshall Space Flight Center The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville postal address), is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's firs ...
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 long and wide. It is made from
stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's r ...
and
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
, 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 -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 stainless steel 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


Wake-up calls

NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the
Gemini program Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...
, which was first used to wake up a flight crew during
Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to land on the Moon. It was the first J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greater focus on science than ear ...
. 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.


Popular culture and media

STS-98 was the designation for the fictional NASA mission to destroy an asteroid in ''Armageddon'' (1998 film)


See also

*
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
*
List of human spaceflights This is a list of all human spaceflights throughout history. Beginning in 1961 with the flight of Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1, human spaceflight occurs when a human crew flies a spacecraft into outer space. Human spaceflight is distinguish ...
* List of International Space Station spacewalks * List of Space Shuttle missions *
List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999 This list contains all spacewalks and moonwalks performed from 1965 to 1999 where an astronaut has fully or partially left a spacecraft. Entries for moonwalks are shown with a gray background while entries for all other EVAs are uncolored. Al ...
*
Outline of space science The following outline is provided as an overview and topical guide to space science: Space science encompasses all of the scientific disciplines that involve space exploration and study natural phenomena and physical bodies occurring in outer ...


References


External links


NASA mission summary


{{DEFAULTSORT:STS-098 Space Shuttle missions Edwards Air Force Base Spacecraft launched in 2001