STS-124 was the 35th mission of
Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. It went 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 ...
on this mission. ''Discovery'' launched on May 31, 2008, at 17:02
EDT, moved from an earlier scheduled launch date of May 25, 2008,
and landed safely at the
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 NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...
's
Shuttle Landing Facility
The Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), also known as Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) , is an airport located on Merritt Island, Florida, Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is a part of the Kennedy ...
, at 11:15 EDT on June 14, 2008. Its objective was to deliver the largest module of the space station – ''
Kibō'', the
Japanese Experiment Module pressurized section. The mission is also referred to as ISS-1J by the ISS program.
Crew
Crew notes
*
Stephen G. Bowen was originally assigned to STS-124 but was moved to
STS-126 to allow this mission to rotate an ISS crew member.
Bowen was scheduled to perform the
EVAs on the flight along with Fossum. Garan took his place for the EVAs.
Commander Kelly discusses the crew
"I'm really fortunate to be given the crew members that I have on this mission. It's myself and six others. We do swap one of our crew members with the expedition crew member on board. So Greg goes up, Greg stays on station and Garrett comes home. But the crew that was assigned to me—I'm really fortunate to have some really talented people. Ken Ham, as a pilot, knows the orbiter better than anybody I've seen. This is his first flight. My lead EVA crew member is Mike Fossum who did three spacewalks on my previous flight, STS-121. We've flown together before. I have all the confidence in the world in his ability to execute these EVAs. Karen Nyberg, my MS1, sits on the flight deck for ascent and entry. She's also the lead for all the robotic arm operations. She'll be flying three robotic arms in space, incredibly motivated, well ahead of the game and I expect great things from her. Ron Garan is my flight engineer, a colonel in the Air Force. This is going to be his first time in space as well as is Karen's and Ken's and he's doing three spacewalks. So he's got a lot on his plate. He's been doing great during training and he's going to have the opportunity to prove himself during these three spacewalks. I kind of wish it was me getting to go outside. I can't do that, but we expect great things from Ron as well. And then I have Aki Hoshide, our Japanese crew member, who grew up in New Jersey kind of like me. That's an interesting thing about our flight—we have four people from New Jersey on the mission. I look at Aki as the payload commander. He is responsible for that Japanese laboratory and he has taken on that responsibility as completely as I could have hoped for. All through our training he's been very much focused on the Japanese lab, making sure it's ready to go, making sure we're completely trained on the systems and everything we have to do. I've given him a lot of responsibility and he's completely taken it on."
*Gregory Chamitoff brought the first
bagels
A bagel (; ; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. Bagels are traditionally made from yeasted wheat dough that is shaped by hand into a torus or ring, briefly boiled in water, and then baked. T ...
into space: 3 bags (18
sesame seed Montreal-style bagels) with him.
Mission payloads

STS-124 delivered the Pressurized Module (PM) of the
Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), called ''
Kibō'', to the International Space Station (ISS). ''Kibō'' was berthed to the ''
Harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
'' module and the pressurized section of the JEM Experiment Logistics Module, brought up by the
STS-123 crew, was moved from ''Harmony'' to the JEM-PM. The
Japanese Remote Manipulator System, a robotic arm, was also delivered by STS-124 and attached to ''Kibō''. The entire ''Kibō'' laboratory was brought up over three missions. All the modules were manufactured at the
Tsukuba Space Center
The Tsukuba Space Center (TKSC) also known by its radio Call sign, callsign Tsukuba, is the operations facility and headquarters for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) located in Tsukuba Science City in Ibaraki Prefecture. The facil ...
and were shipped to the KSC
SSPF for launch processing. It is manufactured from stainless steel and titanium.
''Discovery'' carried with it replacement parts in a mid-deck locker for a malfunctioning
toilet on the International Space Station. The crew had been using other facilities for waste until the new replacement parts were installed on the Zvezda module of the ISS.
Flying with the STS-124 crew was an action figure of
Buzz Lightyear
Buzz Lightyear is a fictional character in the The Walt Disney Company, Disney–Pixar Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise. He is a superhero action figure from an Story within a story, in-universe media franchise. Buzz is recognizab ...
, a fictional character in the
''Toy Story'' franchise. Ken Ham, pilot of the STS-124 mission, brought with him episodes of ESPN Radio's ''Mike and Mike in the Morning'', and a plastic microphone stand with the ESPN logo on it. Along with those, a yellow jersey from
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...
's record-setting seven victories at the Tour de France bicycle race, the backup jersey
Eli Manning
Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning family, he is the youngest ...
took to the Super Bowl, and the last jersey that American Major League Baseball's
Craig Biggio
Craig Alan Biggio (; born December 14, 1965) is an American former baseball second baseman, outfielder, and catcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Houston Astros, from 1988 to 2007. A seven-time National League (baseball), ...
wore in a game were placed inside the orbiter's lockers.
With the completion of STS-124, the next permanent pressurized module would not be delivered to the ISS by a Space Shuttle until
STS-130 brought up ''
Tranquility
Tranquillity (also spelled tranquility) is the quality or state of being tranquil; that is, calm, serene, and worry-free. The word tranquillity appears in numerous texts ranging from the religious writings of Buddhism—where the term refers to ...
'' in February 2010.
Crew seat assignments
Mission background
The mission marked:
* 154th NASA crewed spaceflight
* 123rd Space Shuttle flight since
STS-1
* 98th post-''Challenger'' mission
* 10th post-''Columbia'' mission
* 11th flight remaining in the shuttle program
* 26th flight to the ISS
* 35th flight for shuttle ''Discovery''
* 3rd shuttle mission in 2008
Shuttle processing
On April 26, 2008 ''
Discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
'' was rolled over to the
Vehicle Assembly Building
The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Satu ...
(VAB) from its processing bay in the
Orbiter Processing Facility
Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) is a class of hangars where U.S. Space Shuttle orbiters underwent maintenance between flights. They are located west of the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the orbiter was mated with its external tank and Space ...
. Once in the VAB it was lifted vertically and mated with its
external tank and
solid rocket boosters on April 28, 2008. At the end of a week-long prep schedule on May 2, 2008, at 23:47
EDT the stack was rolled out to
launch pad 39A on top the
Mobile Launch Platform. Carried by the
Crawler Transporter, ''Discovery'' arrived and was secured at
LC-39A on May 3, 2008, at 06:06
EDT. The payload canister containing the
JEM was rolled out to the
Payload Changeout Room at the pad on April 29, 2008, and was later installed into ''Discovery''
's payload bay on May 5, 2008. The STS-124 crew arrived 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 NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...
on May 6, 2008, for the 3-day
Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test and returned to
Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...
on May 9, 2008, after completion of the launch dress rehearsal. After many flight readiness review tests, ''Discovery'' was given a go for a May 31, 2008, launch. ''Discovery'' launched on May 31, 2008, at 21:02 UTC.
Mission timeline
May 31 (Flight day 1, Launch)

The Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' launched from the
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 NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...
at 17:02 EDT local time. Debris from the fuel tank was minimal.
"While we've all prepared for this event today, the discoveries from Kibo will definitely offer hope for tomorrow," said ''Discovery''s commander Mark Kelly just before launch. "Now stand by for the greatest show on Earth."
Launch pad damage
One of the trenches at launch pad 39A that channels flames away from the shuttle during lift-off was significantly damaged. The subsequent mishap investigation found that the damage was the result of carbonation of epoxy and corrosion of steel anchors which held the refractory bricks in place. These had been exacerbated by the fact that
hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid or spirits of salt, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl). It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungency, pungent smell. It is classified as a acid strength, strong acid. It is ...
is an exhaust by-product of the solid rocket boosters. Repairs to the trench were completed before the
STS-125
STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
The launch of the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' occurred on May 11, 2009, at 2:01 pm EDT. Land ...
mission's then scheduled launch attempt on October 8, 2008. In fact STS-125 finally launched in May 2009, and in the meantime
STS-126 (November 2008) and
STS-119 (March 2009) had both been successfully launched from pad 39A.
June 1 (Flight day 2)
During the first full day in space, Ham and Nyberg completed a limited inspection of the shuttle's thermal protection system using the end effector camera of the shuttle's robotic arm. The crew also installed the centerline camera and extended the orbiter's docking system ring to prepare ''Discovery for arrival at the space station.
June 2 (Flight day 3)
''Discovery'' docked with the space station at 18:03 UTC and the hatches opened at 19:36 UTC. Greg Chamitoff officially joined the Expedition 17 crew, replacing Garrett Reisman.
June 3 (Flight day 4)
Mike Fossum and Ron Garan completed a six-hour-forty-eight-minute spacewalk at 23:10 UTC. During the excursion, the pair retrieved the
Orbiter Boom Sensor System, serviced and inspected components of a
Solar Alpha Rotary Joint and prepared the JEM-PS component of the ''Kibō'' laboratory for installation. Karen Nyberg and Akihiko Hoshide, using the station's robotic arm, removed the JEM-PS from the shuttle's payload bay and latched it in place on the ''Harmony'' node, completing the task at 23:01 UTC.
June 4 (Flight day 5)
The hatch to the ''Kibō'' lab was opened at 21:05 UTC. The crew also repaired the malfunctioning ISS
toilet
A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...
.
June 5 (Flight day 6)
Fossum and Garan completed the second STS-124 spacewalk. The 7-hour, 11-minute excursion ended at 22:15 UTC. Prior to heading outside spacewalker Garan stated "Mike and I are getting ready to go out the door for our second spacewalk today. It's going to be a wonderful day."
June 6 (Flight day 7)
The crew moved the ''Kibō'' Logistics Module from ''Harmony'' to the Pressurized Module.
June 7 (Flight day 8)
Hoshide and Nyberg moved two of the six joints on the Japanese ''Kibō'' lab's robotic arm for the first time, maneuvering them very slightly with a series of commands. With the mission at its midpoint astronaut Karen Nyberg commented that "the week has gone way too fast."
June 8 (Flight day 9)
Fossum and Garan conducted the third and final spacewalk, replacing an empty nitrogen tank and collecting a sample of debris from the solar array.
June 9 (Flight day 10)
''Kibō''s robot arm was extended to its full 33 feet, with all six joints tested. The astronauts also opened the hatch to the ''Kibō''s storage unit.
June 10 (Flight day 11)
The shuttle closed the hatch connecting it to the space station at 19:49 UTC.
"It's amazing what's going on up here," said Chamitoff. "This is just the beginning. Overall, the mission's been a great success," said Kelly from space. "I certainly have a great crew and they're well trained, but there's also a little luck involved."
June 11 (Flight day 12)
''Discovery'' undocked from the International Space Station's ''Harmony'' Module, at 11:42 UTC. ''Discovery'' then conducted a fly-by of the ISS, so pictures could be taken. Saying goodbye to the ISS and its crew, commander Kelly said "We wish them the best with their expedition and we hope we left them a better, more capable space station than when we arrived. Sayonara."
Afterwards the crew of ''Discovery'' conducted the late inspection of the shuttle's Thermal Protection System that was unable to be performed as usual on Flight Day 2, due to the size of the ''Kibō'' Pressurized Module.
June 12 (Flight day 13)
Flight day 13 was a rare off-duty day. The only major projects were stowage of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) and an orbit adjustment burn.
During the day, pilot Kenneth Ham conducted an interview with
Mike Greenberg
Michael Darrow Greenberg (born August 6, 1967) is an American television anchor, television show host, radio show host for ESPN and ABC, and novelist. At ESPN, he hosted the weekday evening, most often Monday, ''SportsCenter'' and previously ES ...
and
Mike Golic of
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
, to be aired on their radio show, ''
Mike and Mike in the Morning'', the following morning on
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...
and
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially ...
.
June 13 (Flight day 14)
The crew conducted routine testing of the steering jets and an examination of the flight control system. During these tests, a shiny object was noticed trailing the shuttle. This was identified as a thermal clip from the shuttle's rudder speed brake, and should pose no danger during landing.
June 14 (Flight day 15, Landing)
The crew worked through their lengthy list of deorbit preparations, which continued for most of the day. They closed the payload bay doors at 11:30 UTC, which took place without incident. All of ''Discovery''s systems were nominal, and with the weather looking very good at
KSC the deorbit burn took place on schedule at 14:10 UTC for landing on runway 15 at 15:15 UTC.
At 12:00 UTC, the decision was made to use runway 15 rather than 33. This decision was made based on the sun glare that would be present on the Commander's window as he lined up ''Discovery'' with the runway.
Extra-vehicular activity
Three
spacewalks were scheduled and completed during STS-124.
The cumulative time in extra-vehicular activity during the mission was 20 hours and 32 minutes.
Wake-up calls
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the
Gemini program
Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...
, 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.
Contingency mission
STS-326 was the designation given to the
Contingency Shuttle Crew Support mission which would have been launched in the event that ''
Discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
'' became disabled during STS-124.
It would have been a modified version of the
STS-126 mission of ''
Endeavour'', which would have involved the launch date being brought forward. The crew for this mission would have been a four-person subset of the full STS-126 crew,
namely:
*
Christopher Ferguson – Commander
*
Eric A. Boe – Pilot
*
Stephen G. Bowen – Mission Specialist, extravehicular 2
*
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper – Mission Specialist, extravehicular 1
Media
Image:Sts-124 launch.ogv, Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' launches on STS-124
File:STS-124 Composite view of the US Segment of the International Space Station.jpg, Composite image of the US Segment of the ISS taken during EVA
References
External links
Official NASA Space Shuttle Page, includes images and data, constantly updated as STS-124 progresses
NASA-TV: NASA's Television Station Which Will Broadcast the Mission of STS-124 from Mission Control in Houston and Space*
ttp://www.collectspace.com/news/news-060408a.html#ofk STS-124 Official Flight Kit manifest page on collectspace.com
{{Use American English, date=January 2014
Space Shuttle missions
Spacecraft launched in 2008
Spacecraft which reentered in 2008
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