STS-104 was a

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. ...

mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. Its primary objectives were to install the ''Quest'' Joint Airlock and help perform maintenance on the

. It launched on 12 July 2001 at 09:04 UTC, and returned to Earth without incident after successful docking, equipment installation, and three spacewalks.

Crew

Crew seat assignments

Mission highlights

The primary purpose of the flight was to deliver and install the ''Quest'' airlock. The Joint Airlock is a pressurized flight element consisting of two cylindrical chambers attached end-to-end by a connecting bulkhead and hatch. Once installed and activated, the ISS airlock became the primary path for International Space Station space walk entry and departure for U.S. spacesuits, which are known as Extravehicular Mobility Units, or EMUs. In addition, the Joint Airlock is designed to support the Russian Orlan spacesuit for EVA activity. The Joint Airlock is 20 ft (6.1 m) long, 13 ft (4.0 m) in diameter and weighs 6.5

short ton The short ton (abbreviation: tn or st), also known as the US ton, is a measurement unit equal to . It is commonly used in the United States, where it is known simply as a ton; however, the term is ambiguous, the single word "ton" being variously ...

s (5.9 metric tons). It is made from steel and aluminum, and manufactured at the

Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...

(MSFC) by the Space Station main contractor Boeing. The ISS-airlock has two main components: a crew airlock and an equipment airlock for storing EVA gear and EVA preflight preps. STS-104 also carries a spacelab pallet with four High Pressure Gas Assembly containers that were attached to the exterior of the airlock. Mission Specialists Michael Gernhardt and James Reilly conducted three space walks while Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' was docked to the International Space Station. They spent a total of 16 hours and 30 minutes outside. During the first space walk, Gernhardt and Reilly assisted in the installation of the airlock. During the second and third excursions, they focused on the external outfitting of the ''Quest'' airlock with four High Pressure Gas Tanks, handrails and other vital equipment. The third spacewalk was conducted from ''Quest'' itself. STS-104 was the final Space Shuttle mission to have a five-member crew. All succeeding missions would have six or seven (except the final mission

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 ...

, which had 4).

First flight of Block II SSME

STS-104 was the first shuttle mission to fly with a "Block II" SSME. Post-launch analysis indicated an anomaly occurred when the engine was shut down. The cause was determined and the mitigation approach was demonstrated on the STS-108 flight in November 2001.

Space walks

*'' Gernhardt and Reilly '' – EVA 1 *EVA 1 Start: 15 July 2001 – 03:10 UTC *EVA 1 End: 15 July 2001 – 09:09 UTC *Duration: 5 hours, 59 minutes *'' Gernhardt and Reilly '' – EVA 2 *EVA 2 Start: 18 July 2001 – 03:04 UTC *EVA 2 End: 18 July 2001 – 09:33 UTC *Duration: 6 hours, 29 minutes *'' Gernhardt and Reilly '' – EVA 3 *EVA 3 Start: 21 July 2001 – 04:35 UTC *EVA 3 End: 21 July 2001 – 08:37 UTC *Duration: 4 hours, 02 minutes STS-104 Payload Bay view

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 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo program and the fourth Moon landing. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greate ...

. 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.

References

External links

NASA mission summary

{{Use American English, date=January 2014 Space Shuttle missions Spacecraft launched in 2001