STS-112 (original) (raw)


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STS-112

Part of ISS

STS-112
STS-112
Credit: NASA

ISS Assembly flight. Extended the truss of the exterior rail line with a 14-m, 13-ton girder. At liftoff primary hold-down bolt initiators failed; backups functioned. At T+33s, a piece of the bipod ramp separated, hitting booster-tank attachment.

AKA: Atlantis;ISS-9A. Launched: 2002-10-07. Returned: 2002-10-18. Number crew: 6 . Duration: 10.83 days.

ISS Assembly flight delayed from March 22, April 4, August 22, September 28, October 2 due to payload delays and then SSME problems. American shuttle spacecraft STS-112 carried a crew of five Americans and one Russian to the International Space Station (ISS). During the 11-day mission, the crew extended the truss system of the exterior rail line with a 14-m, 13-ton girder. The crew also tested a manual cart on the rails. The cart, named CETA (Crew and Equipment Transportation Aid), was designed to increase mobility of crew and equipment during the later installation phases. STS-112 landed back in Cape Canaveral at 15:43 UT on 2002 October 18 carrying the same crew of six.

The STS-112 mission was to deliver the S1 (Starboard 1) truss to the Station, and attach it to the end of S0. S1 mostly consisted of a thermal control system, with big ammonia cooling loops and three large radiator panels each 3.3m x 22.9m. The three panels were attached to a single base structure which could rotate relative to the truss to orient the radiators. On the other side of the truss was the CETA cart, which was to be used to ferry equipment along the mobile transporter railway. S1 was built by Boeing/Huntingdon Beach and Boeing/Huntsville..

Cargo Bay Manifest estimate for STS-112:

Atlantis took off from Kennedy Space Center to a 58 x 227 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The OMS-2 burn at 20:28 GMT raised the perigee to 158 km. Atlantis docked with the Station on October 9 at 1517 GMT, with hatch opening at 16

50 GMT. On October 10 the Station SSRMS grappled the S1 truss in Atlantis' payload bay, unberthing it at 10:47 GMT and connecting it to the end of the S0 truss at 13:36 GMT.

Atlantis undocked from the ISS on October 16 at 13:13 GMT. It flew around the station and departed the area at 15:01 GMT. A braking burn at around 20:30 GMT on October 17 reduced the perigee from 373 to 273 km. On October 18 at 14:36 GMT the deorbit burn further lowered the perigee to 18 km. Atlantis re-entered the atmosphere at 15:12 GMT, landing at Kennedy Space Center at 15:43 GMT.

NASA Official Mission Summary

STS-112
Mission: International Space Station 9A
Space Shuttle: Atlantis
Launch Pad: 39B
Launched: October 7, 2002, 3:45:51.074 p.m. EDT
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landing: October 18, 2002, 11:44:35 a.m. EDT
Rollout Distance: 8,305 feet
Mission Duration: 10 days, 19 hours, 58 minutes and 44 seconds
Miles Traveled: 4.5 million

Crew Members: Commander Jeffrey Ashby, Pilot Pamela Melroy, Mission Specialists David Wolf, Piers Sellers, Sandra Magnus and Fyodor Yurchikhin.

Launch Highlights

The STS-112 mission was originally scheduled to launch October 2; however, Hurricane Lili in the Gulf of Mexico threatened Mission Control at Johnson Space Center, Houston. Since the exact path was not determined until late in its forward movement, a decision was made to power down the JSC Mission Control Center and the launch was rescheduled for October 7. Atlantis then lifted off on time to deliver the 28,000 pound Starboard 1 (S1) truss segment to the International Space Station.

A problem prevented the detonation of one of two sets of small explosives that release bolts that hold the shuttle's solid rocket boosters to the launch platform and release ground connections to the external tank. A second redundant system fired normally and all pyrotechnic bolts were safely released.

Mission Highlights

Primary payloads were the S1 integrated truss segment and the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) Cart A. The CETA is the first of two human-powered carts that will ride along the ISS railway, providing mobile work platforms for future spacewalking astronauts.

Activities included three spacewalks to attach the S1 truss to the space station. MS Sandra Magnus and ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson lifted the 14-ton, 45-foot S1 truss from Atlantis' payload bay using the station's Canadarm2. They then attached it to the station with four remotely operated bolts.

Other chores were repairing the station's exercise treadmill; adjusting protective circuits that measure current in the S1 truss radiator assembly to greater tolerance levels for space; removing and replacing a humidity separator in the Quest airlock.

Three spacewalks, totalling 19 hours, 41 minutes, accomplished the following:

EVA No. 1: 7 hours, 1 minute -- MS David Wolf and MS Piers Sellers hooked up power, data and fluid lines, released locks on a beam allowing the S1 radiators to be oriented for optimal cooling, deployed an antenna, and released restraints on the CETA cart.

EV A No. 2: 6 hours, 4 minutes -- Wolf and Sellers prepared CETA Cart A for future use, installed 22 Spool Positioning Devices on the space station ammonia-cooling line connections, installed an exterior TV camera outside Destiny, hooked up ammonia supply for lines to the S1 radiator, and checked equipment to be used to add the next starboard truss. Two additional SPDs would not fit and were left unattached.

EVA No. 3: 6 hours, 36 minutes -- After completing their first task, removing a bolt that prevented activation of a cable cutter on the mobile transporter, Wolf and Sellers then connected ammonia lines and removed structural support clamps that held the truss in place during launch. Working ahead of schedule, they then added a task -- installing Spool Positioning Devices on a pump motor assembly that helps circulate ammonia through the station's cooling system. The station's robotic arm, used as a work platform by the two spacewalkers, was operated by NASA's ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Mission Specialist Sandra Magnus.

Final activities on the space station included transferring the last of the equipment and supplies from Atlantis, and packing items for return on the orbiter. In all, 1,800 pounds were transferred and an equivalent amount stored for the journey back.

More at: STS-112.

Family: Manned spaceflight. People: Ashby, Magnus, Melroy, Sellers, Wolf, Yurchikhin. Country: USA. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Launch Sites: Cape Canaveral. Agency: NASA.

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