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STS-135
STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter '' Atlantis'' and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 launched on July 8, 2011, and landed on July 21, 2011, following a one-day mission extension. The four-person crew was the smallest of any shuttle mission since STS-6 in April 1983. The mission's primary cargo was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) '' Raffaello'' and a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC), which were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight of ''Raffaello'' marked the only time that ''Atlantis'' carried an MPLM. Although the mission was authorized, it initially had no appropriation in the NASA budget, raising questions about whether the mission would fly. On January 20, 2011, program managers changed STS-335 to STS-135 on the flight manifest. This allowed for training and other mission spe ...
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Space Shuttle Atlantis
Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. ''Atlantis'' was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. ''Atlantis'' is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985. ''Atlantis'' embarked on its 33rd and final mission, also the final mission of a space shuttle, STS-135, on July 8, 2011. STS-134 by Space Shuttle Endeavour, ''Endeavour'' was expected to be the final flight before STS-135 was authorized in October 2010. STS-135 took advantage of the processing for the STS-335 Launch on Need mission that would have been necessary if STS-134's crew became stranded in orbit. ''Atlantis'' landed for the final time at the Kennedy Space Cent ...
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STS-3xx
Space Shuttle missions designated STS-3xx (officially called Launch On Need (LON) missions) were rescue missions which would have been mounted to rescue the crew of a Space Shuttle if their vehicle was damaged and deemed unable to make a successful reentry. Such a mission would have been flown if Mission Control determined that the heat shielding tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon panels of a currently flying orbiter were damaged beyond the repair capabilities of the available on-orbit repair methods. These missions were also referred to as Launch on Demand (LOD) and Contingency Shuttle Crew Support. The program was initiated following loss of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' in 2003. No mission of this type was launched before the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011. Procedure The orbiter and four of the crew which were due to fly the next planned mission would be retasked to the rescue mission. The planning and training processes for a rescue flight would allow NASA to launch the ...
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Doug Hurley
Douglas Gerald Hurley (born October 21, 1966) is an American engineer, former Marine Corps pilot, and former NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle missions STS-127 (July 2009) and STS-135 (July 2011), the final flight of the Space Shuttle program. He launched into space for the third time as commander of Crew Dragon Demo-2, the first crewed spaceflight from American soil since STS-135 and became, together with Bob Behnken, the first astronaut in history launching aboard a commercial orbital spacecraft. He was also the first Marine to fly the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. His call sign is "Chunky", and he was sometimes referred to by this name on the communication loops. Early years and education Hurley was born on October 21, 1966, in Endicott, New York, and spent his childhood in Apalachin, New York. He graduated from the Owego Free Academy in Owego, New York in 1984 and graduated ''magna cum laude'' with honors from Tulane University, earning his B.S.E. degree in civil engin ...
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STS-134
STS-134 (ISS assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the International Space Station. Mark Kelly served as the mission commander. STS-134 was expected to be the final Space Shuttle mission if STS-135 did not receive funding from United States Congress, Congress. However, in February 2011, NASA stated that STS-135 would fly "regardless" of the funding situation.STS-134 Mission Status
Spaceflight Now.
STS-135, flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis, ''Atlantis'', took advantage of the processing for STS-3xx#STS-335, STS-335, the Launch on Need mission that would have been necessary if the STS-134 crew became stranded in orbit. Change ...
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Christopher Ferguson
Christopher J. "Fergy" Ferguson (born September 1, 1961) is a Boeing commercial astronaut and a retired United States Navy captain and NASA astronaut. He was the pilot of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' on his first mission to space, STS-115, which launched on September 9, 2006, and returned to Earth on September 21, 2006. He then commanded STS-126 aboard . In 2011, he was assigned as commander of STS-135, which was the final mission of the space shuttle program. On December 9, 2011, he retired from NASA and became director of Crew and Mission Operations for Boeing's Commercial Crew Program. In August 2018, Ferguson was assigned to the first test flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner, although he stepped down from the mission in October 2020. Education Ferguson was born September 1, 1961, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Archbishop Ryan High School, from which he graduated in 1979. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University in ...
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Sandra Magnus
Sandra Hall Magnus (born October 30, 1964) is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. She flew to space three times, as mission specialist on STS-112, as ISS crewmember during Expedition 18 and as mission specialist on STS-135. She is also a licensed amateur radio operator with the call sign KE5FYE. From 2012 until 2018 Magnus was the executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Biography Early life and education Magnus was born and raised in Belleville, Illinois. She earned degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Missouri–Rolla (now known as the Missouri University of Science and Technology) before earning a PhD in Materials science, materials science and engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996. Research for her dissertation, entitled "An Investigation of the relationship between the thermochemistry and Thermionic emission, emission behavior ...
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Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, 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 name was the Space Transportation System (STS), taken from the 1969 plan led by U.S. vice president Spiro Agnew for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development. The first (STS-1) of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights (STS-5) beginning in 1982. Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. They launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), conducted science experiments in orbit, participated in the Shuttle–Mir program, Shuttle-''Mir'' program with Russia, ...
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Raffaello MPLM
The ''Raffaello'' MPLM, also known as MPLM-2, was one of three Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules which were operated by NASA to transfer supplies and equipment to and from the International Space Station. ''Raffaello'' was used for four of twelve MPLM flights to the space station, with '' Leonardo'' being used for the remainder. It was first launched on 19 April 2001, aboard the STS-100 mission flown by , and made its third flight in July 2005, aboard ''Discovery'' on STS-114. ''Raffaello''s final flight was aboard on the STS-135 mission, the last flight of the Space Shuttle. In April 2023, ''Raffaello'' was transferred to Axiom Space to be repurposed and flown as part of Axiom Station. Construction Like the other Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules, ''Raffaello'' was constructed by the Italian Space Agency, who chose to name it after the painter and architect Raffaello Sanzio. The module was constructed in the late 1990s, and delivered to NASA at the Kennedy Space Center in August ...
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Space Shuttle Program
The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development, as a proposed nuclear shuttle in the plan was cancelled in 1972. It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips. The Space Shuttle, composed of an Space Shuttle orbiter, orbiter launched with two reusable Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster, solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank, carried up to eight astronauts and up to of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would atmospheric reentry, reenter the Earth's atmosphere and land like a glider (aircraft), glider at either ...
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STS-133
STS-133 (Assembly of the International Space Station#Assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF5) was the 133rd mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program; during the mission, Space Shuttle Discovery, Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' docked with the International Space Station. It was ''Discovery'''s 39th and final mission. The mission launched on February 24, 2011, and landed on March 9, 2011. The crew consisted of six American astronauts, all of whom had been on prior spaceflights, headed by Commander Steven W. Lindsey, Steven Lindsey. The crew joined the long-duration six person crew of Expedition 26, who were already aboard the space station. About a month before lift-off, one of the original crew members, Timothy L. Kopra, Tim Kopra, was injured in a bicycle accident. He was replaced by Stephen G. Bowen, Stephen Bowen. The mission transported several items to the space station, including the Leonardo (ISS module), Permanent Multipurpose Module ''Leonardo'', which was left permanentl ...
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Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
A Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) is a large pressurized container that was used on Space Shuttle missions to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Two MPLMs made a dozen trips in the Shuttle cargo bay and initially berthed to the ''Unity (ISS module), Unity'' and later the ''Harmony (ISS module), Harmony'' module on the ISS. Once attached, supplies were offloaded, and finished experiments and waste were reloaded. The MPLM was then transferred back into the Shuttle’s cargo bay for return to Earth. Three modules were built by Alenia Aeronautica for the Italian Space Agency (ASI). They were named ''Leonardo (ISS module), Leonardo'', Raffaello MPLM, ''Raffaello'', and ''Donatello''. The ''Leonardo'' module was modified in 2010 to turn it into the Leonardo (ISS module), Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and was permanently attached to the ISS during the STS-133 mission in March 2011. In July 2011, the ''Raffaello'' module was the primary payload ...
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Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A
Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, was built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V launch vehicle, and has been used to support NASA crewed space flight missions, including the historic Apollo 11 moon landing and the Space Shuttle. Since 2014 the site has been leased by SpaceX and supports launches of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. History Apollo program In 1961, U.S. President Kennedy proposed to the U.S. Congress the goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Congressional approval led to the launch of the Apollo program, which required a massive expansion of NASA operations, including an expansion of launch operations from the Cape to adjacent Merritt Island to the north and west. First named Launch Complex 39C, Launch Complex 39A was designed to handle launches of the Saturn V rocket, ...
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