STS-113 was a

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 '' Endeavour''. During the 14-day mission in late 2002, ''Endeavour'' and its crew extended the ISS backbone with the P1 truss and exchanged the

Expedition 5 Expedition 5 was the fifth long-duration stay on the International Space Station (ISS). The crew, consisting of three people, remained in space for 184 days, 178 of which were spent aboard the ISS. Expedition 5 was a continuation of an uninterru ...

and

Expedition 6 Expedition 6 was the sixth expedition to the International Space Station (25 November 2002 - 3 May 2003). It was the last three-man crew to reside on the station until the arrival of STS-121. The crew performed two spacewalks in support of main ...

crews aboard the station. With Commander

Jim Wetherbee James Donald "Wxb" Wetherbee (born November 27, 1952) (Capt, USN, Ret.), is a retired United States Navy officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six Space Shuttle missions and is the only Ameri ...

and Pilot Paul Lockhart at the controls, ''Endeavour'' docked with the station on 25 November 2002 to begin seven days of station assembly, spacewalks and crew and equipment transfers. This was the last flight of ''Endeavour'' before entering its Orbiter Major Modification period until

STS-118 STS-118 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by the orbiter '' Endeavour''. STS-118 lifted off on 8 August 2007 from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida and landed at the Shuttle Landing Fac ...

in 2007 which include modernizing the cockpit, and also the penultimate shuttle mission before the ''Columbia'' disaster.

Crew

Mission highlights

STS-113 was an Assembly Mission (11A) to the

, delivering the P1 Truss segment, which provides structural support for the Space Station radiators. Mission Specialists

John Herrington John Bennett Herrington (born September 14, 1958, in Chickasaw Nation) is a retired United States Naval Aviator, engineer and former NASA astronaut. In 2002, Herrington became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in spac ...

and

Michael López-Alegría Michael López-Alegría (born Miguel Eladio López Alegría on May 30, 1958) is an astronaut, test pilot and commercial astronaut with dual nationality, American and Spanish; a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one International Space ...

performed three spacewalks to activate and outfit the P1. The STS-113 crew and both Expedition crews transferred about 1,969 kilograms (4,340 pounds) of cargo between the shuttle and station. STS-113 delivered the

crew to the station for a four-month increment. The

crew returned to Earth aboard STS-113, ending a 185-day stay in space. STS-113 came to a close when '' Endeavour'' glided in to a landing at

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 196 ...

on 7 December. It was the 19th flight of ''Endeavour'', the 112th shuttle mission, and the 16th shuttle mission to the station. The landing was the first (and only) time a mission ended on the fourth day of landing attempts. Also carried aboard STS-113 was the Micro-Electromechanical System (

MEMS Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), also written as micro-electro-mechanical systems (or microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems) and the related micromechatronics and microsystems constitute the technology of microscopic devices, ...

) based Pico Satellite Inspector (MEPSI). This payload deployed two small satellites which are connected via a tether. STS-113 was the last successful mission before

STS-107 STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th and final flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2003, and during its 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes ...

. Gus Loria was originally scheduled to fly as the pilot for this mission, but was replaced due to an injury. His replacement was Paul S. Lockhart. John Herrington, a member of the

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation (Chickasaw: Chikashsha I̠yaakni) is a federally recognized Native American tribe, with its headquarters located in Ada, Oklahoma in the United States. They are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, original ...

, became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly in space. STS-113 was the final mission during which Russian cosmonauts flew on the Space Shuttle. Because ''Endeavour'' entered its Orbiter Major Modification period after the ''Columbia'' disaster, this was the last shuttle mission to fly with an analog-style cockpit.

Mission parameters

Docking with ISS

*Docked: 25 November 2002, 21:59:00 UTC *Undocked: 2 December 2002, 20:50:00 UTC *Time Docked: 6 days, 22 h, 51 min, 00 s

Spacewalks

Gallery

File:Shuttle delivers ISS P1 truss.jpg, ''Endeavour'' with the P1 Truss segment in its payload bay File:ISS Expedition 6 crew.jpg, Launched Expedition 6 crew
L-R: Donald Pettit,

Ken Bowersox Kenneth Dwane "Sox" Bowersox (born November 14, 1956) is a United States Navy officer, and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five Space Shuttle launches and an extended stay aboard the International Space Station. When he launched on STS ...

and Nikolai Budarin File:ISS Expedition 5 crew.jpg, Landed

crew
L-R: Valery G. Korzun,

Peggy Whitson Peggy Annette Whitson (born February 9, 1960) is an American biochemistry researcher, retired NASA astronaut, and former NASA Chief Astronaut. Whitson has a total of 665 days in space, more than any other woman or American. Her first space mi ...

, and Sergei Y. Treshchev File:Earth's horizon as seen from Shuttle Endeavour.jpg, View of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

as seen from ''Endeavour'' on STS-113. File:ISSafterSTS113.jpg, Illustration of the International Space Station after STS-113

Notes

References

External links

NASA mission summary

– Detailed

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

status reports for each day of the mission.
STS-113 Video Highlights
{{DEFAULTSORT:STS-113 Space Shuttle missions Spacecraft launched in 2002