STS-122
STS-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS), flown by the Space Shuttle Atlantis. STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 121st Space Shuttle flight overall.
Canadarm2 takes Columbus from Atlantis' payload bay, ahead of its installation on the ISS | |
| Names | Space Transportation System-122 |
|---|---|
| Mission type | ISS assembly |
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 2008-005A |
| SATCAT no. | 32486 |
| Mission duration | 12 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes, 50 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 8,500,000 kilometres (5,300,000 mi) |
| Orbits completed | 202 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Atlantis |
| Launch mass | 121,264 kilograms (267,341 lb) |
| Landing mass | 93,536 kilograms (206,212 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 7 |
| Members | |
| Launching | |
| Landing | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | February 7, 2008, 19:45 UTC |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39A |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | February 20, 2008, 14:07:10 UTC |
| Landing site | Kennedy SLF Runway 15 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee altitude | 331 kilometres (206 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 339 kilometres (211 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Period | 91.23 minutes |
| Epoch | February 9, 2008 |
| Docking with ISS | |
| Docking port | PMA-2 (Harmony forward) |
| Docking date | February 9, 2008, 17:17 UTC |
| Undocking date | February 18, 2008, 09:24 UTC |
| Time docked | 8 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes |
|
Left to right - Front row: Frick, Eyharts, Poindexter; Back row: Melvin, Walheim, Love, Schlegel | |
The mission was also referred to as ISS-1E by the ISS program. The primary objective of STS-122 was to deliver the European Columbus science laboratory, built by the European Space Agency (ESA), to the station. It also returned Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel M. Tani to Earth. Tani was replaced on Expedition 16 by Léopold Eyharts, a French Flight Engineer representing ESA. After Atlantis landing, the orbiter was prepared for STS-125, the final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope.
The original target launch date for STS-122 was December 6, 2007, but due to engine cutoff sensor (ECO) reading errors, the launch was postponed to December 9, 2007. During the second launch attempt, the sensors failed again, and the launch was halted. A tanking test on December 18, 2007, revealed the probable cause to lie with a connector between the external tank and the shuttle. The connector was replaced and the shuttle launched during the third attempt on February 7, 2008.