Sts-120
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STS-120 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) that launched on October 23, 2007, 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 ...
, Florida. The mission is also referred to as ISS-10A by the ISS program. STS-120 delivered 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 reconfigured a portion of the station in preparation for future assembly missions. STS-120 was flown by , and was the twenty-third Space Shuttle mission to the ISS. It was Discovery's 34th flight.


Crew


Crew notes

As commander of STS-120, Pamela Melroy became the second woman (after
Eileen Collins Eileen Marie Collins (born 19 November 1956) is an American retired NASA astronaut and Air Force colonel. A flight instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle and the first to command a Space Shuttle missio ...
) to command a Space Shuttle mission. Additionally, the
Expedition 16 Expedition 16 was the 16th List of International Space Station Expeditions, expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The first two crew members, Yuri Malenchenko and Peggy Whitson, launched on 10 October 2007, aboard Soyuz TMA-11, an ...
crew that received STS-120 was commanded by
Peggy Whitson Peggy Annette Whitson (born February 9, 1960) is an American biochemistry researcher, and astronaut working for Axiom Space. She retired from NASA in 2018, after serving as Chief Astronaut. Over all her missions, Whitson accumulated a total of ...
, the first female ISS commander. The flight of STS-120 thus became the first time two female mission commanders were in space at the same time.


Crew prior to the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster

Prior to the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster, the original crew manifest for STS-120 was: The STS-120 mission patch was designed by Michael Foreman before he was reassigned to
STS-123 STS-123 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. STS-123 was the 1J/A Assembly of the International Space Station, ISS assembly mission. The orig ...
.


Mission payloads


''Harmony'' (Node 2)

STS-120 delivered launch package 10A to the International Space Station (ISS). It consisted of the U.S. ''
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 (also known as Node 2), with four DC-to-DC Converter Unit (DDCU) racks and three Zero-g Storage Racks (ZSR) installed; a Power and Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) for the station's robot arm, and a Shuttle Power Distribution Unit (SPDU). ''Harmony'' was manufactured for NASA by
Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (company), Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France. It provides space-based ...
in
Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, Italy, as part of an agreement between NASA and the
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
and was the first pressurized habitable module delivered to the station since the ''Pirs'' docking compartment was installed in August 2001. Since STS-120 docked to the
Pressurized Mating Adapter A Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) is a component used on the International Space Station (ISS) to convert the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) interface used to connect ISS modules to an APAS-95 spacecraft docking port. Three PMAs are attached ...
-2 (PMA-2) on the forward port of the ''
Destiny Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...
'' module, installation of ''Harmony'' occurred in two stages: STS-120 installed ''Harmony'' to the port node of the ''Unity'' module. After ''Discovery'' undocked, the station's robotic arm detached PMA-2 from ''Destiny'', and moved it to the forward port of ''Harmony''. Following the relocation of PMA-2, the robotic arm was used to move ''Harmony'' from its initial position to its final position, on the forward port of ''Destiny''. The final positioning of ''Harmony'' allowed for the later installation of the
European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...
''
Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...
'' and
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
'' Kibō'' research modules, which were attached to the side ports of ''Harmony''.


P6 relocation

During STS-120, the P6 solar arrays were moved from the
Z1 truss The Integrated Truss Structure (ITS) of the International Space Station (ISS) consists of a linear arranged sequence of connected trusses on which various unpressurized components are mounted such as logistics carriers, radiators, solar arrays, ...
on top of ''Unity'', to their final position at the port end of the truss.


Outreach

STS-120 carried the signatures of over 500,000 students that participated in the 2007 Student Signatures in Space program, jointly sponsored by NASA and Lockheed Martin. In celebration of Space Day in May 2007, students from over 500 schools around the world signed giant posters. Their signatures were scanned onto a disk, and the disk was manifested on the STS-120 mission. Also during STS-120, the
lightsaber A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout ''Star Wars''. A typical lightsaber is shown as a luminous laser sword about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the original ''Star Wars'' ...
used by actor
Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...
in the 1983 film ''
Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas. The sequel to '' The Empire ...
'' was flown to the station and returned to Earth. Stowed on-board ''Discovery'' for the length of the mission, the
prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...
was flown in honor of the 30th anniversary of the ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' franchise. On August 28, 2007,
Chewbacca Chewbacca ( ), nicknamed "Chewie", is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is a Wookiee—a tall, hairy, highly intelligent species originating from the planet Kashyyyk. He is tall, and typically wears only a bandolier an ...
from the ''Star Wars'' films presented the lightsaber to NASA officials from
Space Center Houston Space Center Houston is a science museum that serves as the official visitor center of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It was designated a Smithsonian Affiliate museum in 2014. The organization is owned by NASA, and operated unde ...
, in an official ceremony at
Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States. The airport is located south of downtown Oakland and east of San Francisco, serving the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The airport is ...
. The lightsaber was then flown to Houston, where it was greeted by
Stormtroopers Stormtrooper or storm trooper may refer to: Military *Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany), specialist soldier of the German Army in World War I *''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) or Storm Detachment, a paramilitary organization of the German Nazi Party * 8th I ...
. The lightsaber will be displayed at Space Center Houston.


Crew seat assignments


Mission background

At the time of the '' Columbia'' disaster, STS-120 was scheduled for early 2004. It was delayed repeatedly until October 23, 2007. NASA originally scheduled the launch for October 20, 2007, but due to the International Space Station program requirement, launch was delayed to October 23, 2007. In light of the small gouge to the underside of ''Endeavour'' that occurred on
STS-118 STS-118 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by the orbiter ''Space Shuttle Endeavour, Endeavour''. STS-118 lifted off on August 8, 2007, from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, launch pad 39A at Kennedy ...
, in August 2007, NASA managers announced that they expected to add a fifth spacewalk to the STS-120 mission, designed to test a heat-shield repair tool. The repair technique was originally scheduled for a flight in 2008, but following STS-118, it was decided to move up the testing. The repair tool, called a
TPS TPS or Tps may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Télévision Par Satellite, a French satellite television company *Third-person shooter, a game genre * Torsonic Polarity Syndrome, in ''South Park'' animation * Trailer Park Sex, a band from ...
(thermal protection system) repair ablator dispenser (T-RAD), has never been tested in space, so the spacewalk would have allowed managers to evaluate its effectiveness in low gravity environments. During the course of the mission, issues with the S4
starboard Port and starboard are Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z), nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the Bow (watercraft), bow (front). Vessels with bil ...
Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), and P6 Solar Array, deferred this test objective to a future mission. The mission marked: * 151st NASA crewed spaceflight * 120th Space Shuttle flight since
STS-1 STS-1 (Space Transportation System-1) was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. The first orbiter, ''Columbia'', launched on April 12, 1981, and returned on April 14, 1981, 54.5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 3 ...
* 34th flight of ''
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 ...
'' * 95th post-'' Challenger'' mission * 7th post-''Columbia'' mission


Mission timeline


Launch preparations

Following STS-118 in August 2007, NASA managers decided to make modifications to the
external tank The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen Rocket propellant, fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer und ...
to be used on STS-120, and modify the
liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...
feed-line brackets. The change involved a new low-density foam application, and thinner gaskets. Shuttle Program Managers decided to do this to reduce the foam loss from the area that had been noted since
STS-114 STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. ''Discovery'' launched at 10:39 EDT (14:39 UTC) on her 31st flight on July 26, 2005. The launch, 907 days (approx. 29 months) a ...
's "Return to Flight" mission in 2005. STS-118 had a small gouge on the belly of the orbiter due to a chunk of foam that impacted during launch in August 2007. The week of September 17, 2007, NASA managers decided to delay ''Discovery's'' rollover 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), due to a hydraulic fluid leak from the right main landing gear strut. The strut repair was successfully completed on September 19, 2007. ''Discovery'' then moved to the VAB, and was mated to the External Tank and
Solid Rocket Boosters A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and Space Shuttle, have used SRBs to give launch ...
. Perched atop the mobile launcher platform, ''Discovery'' arrived at Launch complex 39A on September 30, 2007. The crew of STS-120 arrived at Kennedy Space Center on October 7, 2007, and began final preparations, including the terminal countdown demonstration test, or "Dress Rehearsal", scheduled for October 7, 2007, through October 10, 2007. On October 9, 2007, NASA's Engineering and Safety Center, an independent review group set up after the 2003 ''Columbia'' disaster, advised replacement of three of ''Discovery's'' reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels on the leading wing edge, due to a loss of small amounts of the protective
silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...
-
carbide In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece. Interstitial / Metallic carbides The carbides of th ...
coating. NASA reviewed the issue of oxidation of the panels for several months, using a variety of specialized testing methods, including
thermography Infrared thermography (IRT), thermal video or thermal imaging, is a process where a thermal camera captures and creates an image of an object by using infrared radiation emitted from the object in a process, which are examples of infrared im ...
. These tests showed that the panels had not worsened over the course of the past two flights of ''Discovery'', and the orbiter project engineers concluded in August that ''Discovery'' was safe to launch as is. Had a decision been made to repair the panels, the orbiter would have been rolled back to the VAB, delaying the launch. On October 16, 2007, NASA Managers completed the Flight Readiness Review, and held a press conference to announce the mission plan. The issue of the RCC panels raised by NESC was found to be of little immediate concern, because the NESC took pre-flight thermography data from ''Endeavour'' and compared it with ''Discovery'', but there was no commonality in flight history between the two vehicles. The research showed no significant difference between the panels prior to STS-114, and the panels today, which indicates the coating has not worsened during the previous flights, adding confidence that ''Discovery's'' RCC panels have had no deterioration in the flights since. NASA announced on the main shuttle page that "The Space Shuttle Program has determined that Discovery's astronauts can safely carry out their mission without having to replace the panels."


October 23 (Flight Day 1, Launch)

''Discovery'' launched on time at 11:38 EDT (15:38
UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
). In the countdown's final minutes, a piece of ice, measuring x was seen on the hydrogen umbilical between the orbiter and the external tank. The inspection team was called back to the pad (a contingency that has been practiced, and used before), to get a closer look at the ice build-up. NASA flight controllers deemed it too small to pose a threat to the thermal protection system. The ice was attached to a
Kapton file:Kaptonpads.jpg, Kapton insulating pads for mounting electronic parts on a heat sink Kapton is a polyimide film used in flexible printed circuits (flexible electronics) and space blankets, which are used on spacecraft, satellites, and variou ...
purge barrier near the LH2 umbilical
pyrotechnic Pyrotechnics is the science and craft of creating fireworks, but also includes safety matches, oxygen candles, explosive bolts (and other fasteners), parts of automotive airbags, as well as gas-pressure blasting in mining, quarrying, and demol ...
canister closeout. It had been shown in tests that ice on this liner, sometimes called a "baggie", would likely come off at main engine ignition. Had it been on other metal surfaces around the liner, this may have posed a threat of staying on and breaking off at a critical part of launch. Despite these issues, the launch continued as planned. The forecast for launch initially was a 60% chance of weather prohibiting launch, and although the launch team weather officers were tracking an incoming storm, the weather remained favorable for launch. Present for the launch was
George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
, to see off the Star Wars lightsaber. In a press briefing following launch, NASA managers noted a few "events" involving debris, but they occurred later in ascent, after the period of maximum aerodynamic
velocity Velocity is a measurement of speed in a certain direction of motion. It is a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of physical objects. Velocity is a vector (geometry), vector Physical q ...
and speed, and were not concerning.


October 24 (Flight day 2)

The crew of STS-120 spent their first full day in space by performing the RCC survey, using the
Shuttle Remote Manipulator System Canadarm or Canadarm1 (officially Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS, also SSRMS) is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' ...
(SRMS), and the
Orbiter Boom Sensor System The Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) was a 50-foot (15.24 m) boom carried on board NASA's Space Shuttles. The boom was grappled by the Canadarm and served as an extension of the arm, doubling its length to a combined total of 100 feet (30 m). At ...
(OBSS). The crew also worked on various tasks such as inspecting the
Extravehicular Mobility Unit The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is an independent spacesuit that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for astronauts performing extravehicular activity (EVA) in Geocentric orbit, Earth orbit. Introd ...
s (EMUs, or spacesuits) that will be used on the EVAs, and doing some preliminary work to get ready for docking with the International Space Station on Thursday. Deputy Shuttle Program Manager and Mission Management Team (MMT) chairman John Shannon noted during the status briefing that the preliminary data the team had reviewed showed no items of concern, and the ascent imagery showed no significant losses prior to SRB separation. Shannon said there were several items the team was waiting for higher resolution imagery to assess, including a possible protruding gap filler, and some external tank foam losses, but there was nothing to indicate any problems. Shannon also noted that a vapor trail was seen coming off the external tank for several seconds during launch, but noted that this was a condition seen during both STS-114, and
STS-121 STS-121 was a 2006 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by on its 32nd flight. The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the Space Shuttle Columbia disas ...
, and was found to be condensate coming off the back side of the tank. Due to the temperature and humidity, combined with the angle of the Sun for ''Discovery's'' launch, the plume appeared more dramatic in some of the imagery. This was considered an "expected condition", and Shannon confirmed it was of no concern.


October 25 (Flight day 3)

The crew of STS-120 worked through the rendezvous procedures in the morning leading to the
rendezvous pitch maneuver The R-bar pitch maneuver (RPM), popularly called the rendezvous pitch maneuver or backflip, was a maneuver performed by the Space Shuttle orbiter, Space Shuttle as it Space rendezvous, rendezvoused with the International Space Station (ISS) prior ...
which began at 11:34 UTC. Following the RPM, the crew was given the "Go" to dock with the station, and successful docking to the International Space Station occurred at 12:40 UTC. Following docking, the joint crews conducted a station safety review, and Tani's custom Soyuz seatliner was transferred from ''Discovery'' to the
Soyuz TMA-11 Soyuz TMA-11 was a human spaceflight mission using a Soyuz-TMA spacecraft to transport personnel to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The mission began at 13:22 UTC on October 10, 2007, when the spacecraft was launched from the B ...
, with Anderson's seat liner taken into ''Discovery''. This marked the official end of Expedition 16 for Anderson, and the start of Tani's increment. Just before the two crews signed off to sleep, they were informed that after preliminary review of the RPM photography, focused inspection of the orbiter's heat shield would not be required. During the MMT briefing, Shannon confirmed that initial evaluation of the available data showed ''Discovery'' to be a "pretty clean vehicle". He also confirmed they were not working any issues or items of interest. Shannon said the piece of ice that was looked at prior to launch dislodged during main engine ignition, and as it fell, the ice appeared to graze the underside of the orbiter at the beginning of ascent, but the area around the impact site was in good condition, and the ice did not appear to have caused any damage. Shannon said the teams would continue to evaluate the imagery and data, but the shuttle was in a good configuration.


October 26 (Flight day 4)

The two crews started the day by preparing for the mission's first spacewalk, which began at 10:02 UTC, and ended at 16:16 UTC. Parazynski and Wheelock successfully completed all EVA activities, including preparing ''Harmony'' for removal from the payload bay. Wilson, Tani, and Anderson controlled the station's robotic arm, moving ''Harmony'' out of the bay and onto the port side of the ''Unity'' node. At 15:38 UTC, ''Harmony'' was officially mated to the space station. The station's new addition adds to the station's living volume, an increase of almost 20%, from to . At the Mission Management Team meeting, managers cleared ''Discovery's'' heat shield for reentry, and verified that focused inspection was not required, but noted that late inspection will still be performed on flight day 13 following undocking. John Shannon mentioned that managers have decided to add a task to the second EVA, asking the astronauts to visually inspect the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) on the starboard side, as the joint has registered some vibration for the past month and a half. While the friction is not constant or severe, managers will have Tani remove the insulation covers from the joint to photograph the swing bolts on the joint since Tani would be near the area during the EVA.


October 27 (Flight day 5)

The two crews worked to prepare ''Harmony'' for entry in the morning, connecting power and data cables, and at 12:24 UTC, the hatch was opened, and the crew was allowed to enter. Whitson, Malenchenko, and Nespoli entered first, wearing masks, and installed a temporary air duct to the node, to allow the air inside to circulate through the station's filters. Until the air is fully exchanged, occupancy of the node is limited to only a few crew members at a time, and they are not to remain inside for extended periods. Some of the work the crew has to do inside the node is to remove approximately 700 screws and bolts that are holding down equipment and panels, placed for security during launch, but not needed in space. After allowing the ventilation system work for several hours, the two crews participated in a press conference with
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,
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, and
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from inside ''Harmony''.


October 28 (Flight day 6)

The two crews awoke at 05:08 UTC, and began preparing for the second EVA. Parazynski and Tani began the spacewalk at 09:32 UTC, a half-hour ahead of the planned timeline. The pair started with the P6 truss, removing the attachments to the Z1 truss, which allowed Wilson and Wheelock to use the station's robotic arm to move the truss to a position where it was "parked" for the night. Joking to Wilson "Don't drop it!", Parazynski then moved on and installed handrails onto ''Harmony'', while Tani went to inspect some items requested by the managers, including handrails on a Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) cart, that was considered as a possible cause of
Rick Mastracchio Richard Alan Mastracchio (born February 11, 1960) is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has flown on three NASA Space Shuttle missions as a mission specialist in addition to serving as a flight engineer on the Soyuz TMA-11M (Expedi ...
's glove tear on STS-118. Tani noted the handrail appeared to be intact, with no obvious sharp edges. Tani then moved on to the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) that has had an intermittent vibration for over a month. After removing the cover from the joint, Tani called down to the team to let them know he saw some metal shavings, and some wear patterns and discoloration on one of the rings inside the joint. "It's like the result that you get with the metal, iron filings and you put a magnet under it and they stand straight up." Tani collected some of the shavings onto some tape, which returned to Earth with the shuttle for further analysis. Managers decided to add a task to Tuesday's EVA, having Parazynski inspect the port (left side) SARJ, using photography and video to compare it to the starboard SARJ inspected by Tani.


October 29 (Flight day 7)

The two crews used the morning to move the P6 truss from its overnight position on the station's robotic arm, over to the shuttle's robotic arm. The crew then moved the station's arm along the
mobile transporter Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...
to an outboard work site that allows attachment of the P6 truss to its new location on the P5 truss on Tuesday. Managers on the ground had Whitson perform an experiment on the shavings Tani collected from the SARJ on Sunday's EVA, putting a magnet under a slip of paper, and testing to see if the shavings collected on the paper, to ascertain if they were metal. The test confirmed the particles collected by Tani were
ferrous In chemistry, iron(II) refers to the chemical element, element iron in its +2 oxidation number, oxidation state. The adjective ''ferrous'' or the prefix ''ferro-'' is often used to specify such compounds, as in ''ferrous chloride'' for iron(II ...
. This information allowed the managers on the ground to rule out some possibilities of the origin of the particles, such as the thermal covers, which are made of aluminized mylar. The Mission Management Team discussed the SARJ issues with the ISS team, and decided to add an extra docked day to the mission, between flight days 11 and 12. The new plan changed the objectives of EVA four from the heat shield repair materials testing, to a more thorough inspection of the starboard SARJ. With the new flight plan, ''Discovery'' would undock on November 5, 2007, with a landing on November 7, 2007, at approximately 05:11 EST.


October 30 (Flight day 8)

The two crews spent the morning preparing for the mission's third EVA, which began at 08:45 UTC. The EVA completed the installation of the P6 solar arrays onto the P5 truss, and the rest of the EVA activities were accomplished successfully, with the EVA ending at 15:53 UTC. Once the P6 solar array was attached, the process of deploying the arrays began. The first set of arrays, 2B, was successfully deployed with no issues, but during the deployment of the 4B array, the crew halted when they noticed an abnormality. Initial images taken by the crew and station cameras showed what appeared to be a tear in a small portion of the array. During a press briefing, ISS Program Manager Mike Suffredini said the crew took high resolution images of the solar array, and the managers would analyze the images overnight to determine a course of action. Sufredini mentioned that with the array in the 90% unfurled position, it was still generating 97% of the expected power to the station, only slightly less than a fully unfurled array.


October 31 (Flight day 9)

The crew began the day working through a variety of tasks, including preparing for the fourth EVA, installing a Zero Gravity Stowage Rack in ''Harmony'', and working with some of the experiments on board. Nespoli and Melroy participated in a Public Affairs event (PAO), and received a call from the President of Italy,
Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; 29 June 1925 – 22 September 2023) was an Italian politician who served as President of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first to be re-elected to the office. In office for 8 years and 244 days, he was the longest-serving pre ...
. The entire crew took part in a second PAO event, fielding calls from news agencies from the United States, Europe, and Russia. Around 15:00 UTC, mission control informed the crew that Thursday's planned EVA would be postponed to either Friday, or perhaps Saturday, to allow for a new EVA plan to be worked out, which would include troubleshooting of the P6 solar arrays.


November 1 (Flight day 10)

Shortly after awakening in the morning, the crew was informed that the managers had chosen to take an extra day to evaluate and plan the fourth EVA. Managers initially planned for the EVA to be done on flight day 11, but would use an extra day to conduct further analysis and allow the crew to have extra time to make the tools and equipment needed, and to review and practice the procedures. The crew took some time out to gather in the ''Harmony'' module to speak with former president
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
and his wife, Barbara, who were visiting Johnson Space Center. The rest of the day was devoted to assembling and configuring the new equipment and tools that would be required for the solar array repair, including a tool termed a "cufflink". The tear in the array is located at one of the hinges, which carries the load of the array, so the cufflink will be a load-bearing strap to relieve the pressure from the snagged area, transferring the load from the hinge, to the cufflink. The cufflink is made up of two wires, with two tabs at the end, that are threaded through existing reinforced aluminum holes in the solar array panels. The EVA plans call for the space station's robotic arm to grapple the shuttle's orbital inspection boom, with an extension on the end, to allow Parazynski to reach the solar array while positioned on a foot restraint at the end of the system. Wheelock will be watching to let the team know the clearances, and to assist Parazynski and the robotics team with positioning. With the changes to the timeline, the crew would be shifting their sleep schedule, to allow for a daylight landing on Wednesday, rather than the early morning landing that was originally planned. The fifth EVA that was planned for the Expedition 16 crew during the mission was delayed, and will be performed by the station crew after the shuttle departs.


November 2 (Flight day 11)

The shuttle and station crews spent the day discussing the new EVA plan with managers on the ground, reviewing the procedures, completing the tool configurations, and going over the timeline for the fourth EVA, scheduled for Saturday. The crew also positioned the station's mobile transporter and robotic arm on the end of the truss, to allow the apparatus to reach the solar array. Saturday's EVA would be the first operational use of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) to reach a worksite, although the task was tested and demonstrated during STS-121 to show the boom could provide a stable work platform for EVA activities.


November 3 (Flight day 12)

After being awakened by the theme music from ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'', the station and shuttle crews got to work preparing for the mission's fourth EVA. The spacewalk began at 10:03 UTC. After translating out to the robotic arm, Parazynski attached himself to the adjustable portable foot restraint (APFR), and was taken to the solar array worksite. Working slowly, with direction from Wheelock and the ground team, Parazynski secured the five cufflinks to the array, and then backed away to observe the deploy action. Inside the station, the crew deployed the array a half a "bay" at a time, and the array was fully deployed at 15:23 UTC. After performing additional inspections of both the 2B, and 4B arrays, Parazynski and Wheelock finished the EVA at 17:22 UTC. With the mission's final spacewalk completed, Parazynski has completed seven EVAs, for a total time of 47 hours, 05 minutes, placing him 5th overall for total EVA duration. Wheelock completed three EVAs, for a total time of 20 hours, 41 minutes, and the total EVA time for STS-120 was 27 hours, 14 minutes. During the EVA, a pair of needlenose pliers floated free of the equipment, and was observed floating nearby the window by the crew inside the station. The tool floated clear of the station, and was not a hazard.


November 4 (Flight day 13)

The Shuttle and station crews spent the day transferring cargo, and resting in preparation for Monday's departure of ''Discovery''. Nespoli and Melroy spent some time in the morning speaking to the Italian media, and later in the day the crew had some off-duty time. Following the traditional farewell ceremony, the hatches were closed at 20:03 UTC. During the emotional ceremony, Anderson spoke to the ground crew, expressing his gratitude for their support during his 137 days as an Expedition crewmember.


November 5 (Flight day 14)

The two crews spent the morning preparing for ''Discovery's'' undocking from the International Space Station. At 10:32 UTC, the orbiter successfully backed away from the Pressurized Mating Adapter on the ''Destiny'' Laboratory, and pilot Zamka began the fly-around to allow the shuttle crew to photograph the new configuration of the station. After performing the final separation burn, focused inspection began, to scan the wing leading edges and nose cap, the final analysis that allows the ground team to clear the orbiter for re-entry on Wednesday.


November 6 (Flight day 15)

The crew of ''Discovery'' spent the day preparing Wednesday's landing. In addition to doing final packing and stowing activities, Melroy and Zamka did a check of the orbiter's systems, including the flight control systems, and the reaction control system jets. The crew took some time out in the morning to speak to the media, and then had a deorbit preparation briefing with the ground team. Melroy performed a burn of the orbiter's engines in the afternoon, an orbit adjustment burn done to refine the orbiter's trajectory for the two Wednesday landing opportunities at Kennedy Space Center. NASA managers officially cleared ''Discoverys heat shield for landing after reviewing the data sent down by the final inspection on Monday.


November 7 (Flight day 16, Landing)

The crew of ''Discovery'' got to work preparing for landing following their wake up call. NASA did not activate either
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, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...
, or White Sands, as the weather looked favorable for both
landing Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or " spl ...
opportunities at Kennedy. The weather forecast at the
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 ...
called for good visibility, with mostly sunny skies, although the headwinds would be evaluated, as they had been peaking at . Due to the sleep shifting done by the crew earlier in the mission to schedule the extra mission days, the landing was done on what is called a "descending" node entry. Unlike ascending node entries, this entry trajectory brought the shuttle diagonally across the United States for the first time since
STS-107 STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th(twenty eigth) and final flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The mission ended on the 1st of February 2003, with the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster which killed al ...
. The shuttle passed over Vancouver,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, Canada, and angled down towards Florida. Once the orbiter reached Florida, Melroy performed a 195-degree right overhead turn along the heading alignment cone (HAC) in order to line up for a landing on Runway 33. The first landing opportunity began with a deorbit burn at 16:59 UTC and finished with a landing at 13:01 EST. The deorbit burns were done to slow the orbiter's speed and to drop it out of freefall orbit and on target for the designated runway. ''Discovery's'' payload bay doors were closed at 14:13 UTC, and the crew began fluid loading at 16:00 UTC. Fluid loading is a procedure that involves drinking high salt content fluids, which allows the astronauts to adjust to the return to gravity, and reduces the chance of
hypotension Hypotension, also known as low blood pressure, is a cardiovascular condition characterized by abnormally reduced blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps out blood and is ...
upon returning to Earth. Shortly after 16:00 UTC, the crew began to get into their launch and entry suits, and ingress into their respective seats for landing. At 16:50 UTC, Entry Flight Director
Bryan Lunney Bryan Lunney (born January 12, 1966) is an American aerospace engineer and former NASA flight director. Early life The son of Apollo-era flight director Glynn Lunney (1936–2021), Bryan Lunney grew up in Friendswood, Texas, and attended Frien ...
gave the crew the "go" for deorbit burn. The initiation of the burn committed ''Discovery'' to landing. The burn was initiated at 16:59 UTC, and was one minute and 53 seconds in duration. The deorbit burn is performed while the orbiter is facing opposite its direction of travel, which allows the engines to act as a braking system, slowing its speed by approximately . After the burn, the remaining propellant in the orbiter's maneuvering thrusters was dumped overboard, at 17:13 UTC. ''Discovery'' began to feel the effects of gravity around , as it traveled above the North Pacific Ocean at 17:30 UTC. As the orbiter descended, Melroy initiated a series of "rolls", and roll reversals, which serve to create friction and bleed off additional speed. At 17:40 UTC, ''Discovery'' entered the United States, flying over
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
. At 17:53, the orbiter entered Florida, flying at a speed of , and an altitude of . ''Discovery'' touched down on runway 33 at 13:01:18 EST, the rear landing gear touching down first, the nose gear touching down at 13:01:32 EDT, and the orbiter came to a complete stop at 13:02:13 EDT. Total mission time was 15 days, 2 hours, 23 minutes, 55 seconds, for a distance of 6.25 million miles in 238 orbits. The completion of STS-120 marks the longest duration mission for ''Discovery''.


Extra-vehicular activity

Four spacewalks were scheduled and completed during STS-120. The cumulative time in extra-vehicular activity during the mission was 27 hours and 14 minutes.


ESA ''Esperia'' mission

In addition to his participation in the ISS assembly mission during the STS-120 flight, Paolo Nespoli conducted science research as part of th
Esperia mission
for ESA. According to the STS-120 press kit, Nespoli was to carry out a number of experiments on behalf of the European science community. Two of these experiments (Chromosome‐2 and Neocytolysis) were sponsored by ESA. The other three (HPA, FRTL‐5 and SPORE) were sponsored by the
Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency (; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospac ...
. Chromosome‐2, Neocytolysis and HPA were experiments in the field of human physiology. FRTL‐5 and SPORE were biology experiments.


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-320 was the designation given to the Contingency Shuttle Crew Support mission which would have been launched in the event Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' became disabled during STS-120. It would have been a modified version of the
STS-122 STS-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS), flown by the . STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 121st Space Shuttle flight overall. The mission was also referred to as ISS-1E by the I ...
mission, which would have involved the launch date being brought forward. If it had been needed, it would have been launched no later than January 5, 2008. The crew for this mission would have been a four-person subset of the full STS-122 crew.


Media


See also

*
2007 in spaceflight 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...
*
List of human spaceflights This is a list of all crewed spaceflights throughout history. Beginning in 1961 with the flight of Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1, crewed spaceflight occurs when a human crew flies a spacecraft into outer space. Human spaceflight is distinguishe ...
*
List of International Space Station spacewalks On the International Space Station (ISS), Extravehicular activity, extravehicular activities are major events in the building and maintaining of the orbital laboratory, and are performed to install new components, re-wire systems, modules, a ...
*
List of Space Shuttle missions The Space Shuttle is a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a sy ...
*
Lists of spacewalks and moonwalks Lists of spacewalks and moonwalks include: By date * List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999 * List of spacewalks 2000–2014 * List of spacewalks 2015–2024 * List of spacewalks since 2025 By space station * List of Salyut spacewalks * ...


References


External links


Official STS-120 Mission Page

NASA's STS-120 multimedia page
an




STS-120 Fact Sheet – NASA


{{Use American English, date=January 2014 Space Shuttle missions Spacecraft launched in 2007 Spacecraft which reentered in 2007 Articles containing video clips