STS-128
STS-128 (ISS assembly flight 17A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) that launched on August 28, 2009. Space Shuttle Discovery carried the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo as its primary payload. Leonardo contained a collection of experiments for studying the physics and chemistry of microgravity. Three spacewalks were carried out during the mission, which removed and replaced a materials processing experiment outside ESA's Columbus module, and returned an empty ammonia tank assembly.
Discovery approaches the ISS with Leonardo in its payload bay | |
| Names | Space Transportation System-128 |
|---|---|
| Mission type | ISS assembly |
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 2009-045A |
| SATCAT no. | 35811 |
| Mission duration | 13 days, 20 hours, 54 minutes, 55 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 9,262,217 kilometres (5,755,275 mi) |
| Orbits completed | 219 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Discovery |
| Launch mass | 121,422 kilograms (267,689 lb) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 7 |
| Members | |
| Launching | |
| Landing | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | August 29, 2009, 03:59 UTC |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39A |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | September 12, 2009, 00:53 UTC |
| Landing site | Edwards Runway 22 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee altitude | 219 kilometres (136 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 264 kilometres (164 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Period | 89.33 minutes |
| Epoch | August 29, 2009 |
| Docking with ISS | |
| Docking port | PMA-2 (Harmony forward) |
| Docking date | August 31, 2009 00:54 UTC |
| Undocking date | September 8, 2009 19:26 UTC |
| Time docked | 8 days, 18 hours, 32 minutes |
|
Seated (l–r) Ford and Sturckow. Standing (l–r) are Hernández, Olivas, Stott, Fuglesang and Forrester. | |
The mission's first launch attempt was delayed due to weather concerns, including multiple weather violations in NASA's launch rules, beginning over two hours before the scheduled launch. The second launch attempt, scheduled for August 26, 2009, at 01:10:22 EDT, was called off the previous evening due to an anomaly in one of the orbiter's fuel valves. The launch finally took place on August 28, 2009, at 23:59 EDT. Discovery landed on September 11, 2009, at Edwards Air Force Base, which was the last landing of a shuttle to occur at the California site.