View source for STS-108

{{Short description|2001 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name                  = STS-108
| names_list            = [[Space Transportation System]]-108
| image                 = STS-108 spacewalk.jpg
| image_caption         = Astronaut [[Linda M. Godwin]] on [[Space Shuttle Endeavour|''Endeavour'']]{{'}}s Canadarm during an [[Extravehicular activity|EVA]]
| insignia              = STS-108 Patch.svg

| spacecraft            = {{OV|105}}
| mission_type          = ISS crew rotation
| operator              = [[NASA]]
| COSPAR_ID             = <!-- Wikidata -->
| SATCAT                = <!-- Wikidata -->
| mission_duration      = 11&nbsp;days, 19&nbsp;hours, 36&nbsp;minutes, 45&nbsp;seconds
| launch_mass           = 
| landing_mass          = 
| payload_mass          = {{convert|4082|kg}}

| launch_site           = [[Kennedy Space Center|Kennedy]], [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B|LC-39B]]
| launch_date           = {{Start date text|5 December 2001 22:19:28|timezone=yes}}&nbsp;UTC
| landing_date          = {{End date text|17 December 2001 17:56:13|timezone=yes}}&nbsp;UTC
| landing_site       = Kennedy, [[Shuttle Landing Facility|SLF&nbsp;Runway&nbsp;15]]

| crew_size             = 7
| crew_members          = {{Unbulleted list|[[Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie]]|[[Mark Kelly (astronaut)|Mark E. Kelly]]|[[Linda M. Godwin]]|[[Daniel M. Tani]]}}
| crew_launching        = {{Unbulleted list|[[Yury Onufriyenko|Yury I. Onufriyenko]]|[[Carl E. Walz]]|[[Daniel W. Bursch]]}}
| crew_landing          = {{Unbulleted list|[[Frank L. Culbertson, Jr.]]|[[Mikhail Tyurin]]|[[Vladimir N. Dezhurov]]}}
| crew_EVAs             = 1
| crew_EVA_duration     = 4&nbsp;hours, 12&nbsp;minutes
| crew_photo            = STS-108 crew2.jpg
| crew_photo_caption    = (L-R): [[Mark Kelly (astronaut)|Mark E. Kelly]], [[Linda M. Godwin]], [[Daniel M. Tani]], [[Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie]]

| apsis                 = gee
| orbit_epoch           = 
| orbit_reference       = [[geocentric orbit|Geocentric]]
| orbit_regime          = [[Low Earth orbit|Low Earth]]
| orbit_apoapsis        = {{convert|377|km}}
| orbit_periapsis       = {{convert|353|km}}
| orbit_period          = 92 minutes
| orbit_inclination     = 51.6 degrees
| distance_travelled    = {{convert|7700000|km}}
|docking                = 
 {{Infobox spaceflight/Dock
   |docking_target      = [[International Space Station|ISS]]
   |docking_type        = dock
   |docking_port        = [[PMA-2]]<br/><small>([[Destiny (ISS module)|Destiny]] forward)</small>
   |docking_date        = 7 December 2001, 20:03&nbsp;UTC
   |undocking_date      = 15 December 2001, 17:28&nbsp;UTC
   |time_docked         = 7 days, 21 hours, 24 minutes
 }}

| programme             = [[Space Shuttle program]]
| previous_mission      = [[STS-105]]
| next_mission          = [[STS-109]]
}}

'''STS-108''' was a [[Space Shuttle]] mission to the [[International Space Station]] (ISS) flown by [[Space Shuttle Endeavour|Space Shuttle '' Endeavour'']]. Its primary objective was to deliver supplies to and help maintain the ISS.

STS-108 was the 12th shuttle flight to visit the ISS and the first since the installation of the Russian airlock called Pirs on the station. ''Endeavour'' delivered the [[Expedition 4]] crew to the orbital outpost. The [[Expedition 3]] crew returned to Earth on ''Endeavour''.<ref name=autogenerated1>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010413162141/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-108/index.html HSF – STS-108 Shuttle Archives]</ref>

While at the station, the crew conducted one spacewalk and attached the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station so that about 2.7 metric tons (3 tons) of equipment and supplies could be unloaded. The crew later returned Raffaello to ''Endeavour''{{'}}s payload bay for the trip home.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

==Crew==
{{Spaceflight crew
|terminology       = Astronaut
|position1         = Commander
|crew1_up          = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie]]
|flights1_up       = Third
|position2         = Pilot
|crew2_up          = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Mark Kelly]]
|flights2_up       = First
|position3         = Mission Specialist 1
|crew3_up          = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Linda M. Godwin]]
|flights3_up       = Fourth and last
|position4         = Mission Specialist 2<br>Flight Engineer
|crew4_up          = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Daniel M. Tani]]
|flights4_up       = First
|position5         = Mission Specialist 3
|crew5_up          = {{Flagicon|RUS}} [[Yury Onufriyenko|Yury I. Onufriyenko]]
|flights5_up       = Second and last
|expedition5_up    = [[Expedition 4]]
|details5_up       = ISS Commander/Soyuz Commander
|agency5_up        = [[Russian Federal Space Agency|RKA]]
|crew5_down        = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Frank L. Culbertson, Jr.]]
|flights5_down     = Third and last
|expedition5_down  = [[Expedition 3]]
|details5_down     = ISS Commander
|position6         = Mission Specialist 4
|crew6_up          = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Carl E. Walz]]
|flights6_up       = Fourth and last
|expedition6_up    = [[Expedition 4]]
|details6_up       = ISS Flight Engineer
|crew6_down        = {{Flagicon|RUS}} [[Mikhail Tyurin]]
|flights6_down     = First
|expedition6_down  = [[Expedition 3]]
|details6_down     = ISS Flight Engineer
|agency6_down      = [[Russian Federal Space Agency|RKA]]
|position7         = Mission Specialist 5
|crew7_up          = {{Flagicon|USA}} [[Daniel W. Bursch]]
|flights7_up       = Fourth and last
|expedition7_up    = [[Expedition 4]]
|details7_up       = ISS Flight Engineer
|crew7_down        = {{Flagicon|RUS}} [[Vladimir Dezhurov]]
|flights7_down     = Second and last
|expedition7_down  = [[Expedition 3]]
|details7_down     = ISS Flight Engineer
|agency7_down      = [[Russian Federal Space Agency|RKA]]
}}

==Cargo==
[[File:MACH-1.png|thumb|MACH-1 Carrier]]
[[Image:06 LMC STS-108.jpg|thumb|LMC with 3x GAS and SEM STS-108]]
SSAF-UF-1 carried the [[Multi Purpose Logistics Module]] (MPLM-2) 'Raffaello' (2nd flight) 4th MPLM flight overall. Also the Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker (MACH-1) MPESS Hitchhiker experiment bridge: with CAPL-3, Starshine-2, SEM-11 & 15, G-0761, Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD) 
& COLLIDE-2. As well as the Lightweight MPESS Carrier #2 (LMC) carrying: SEM-12, G-0785, G-0064 and G-0730.

==Launch highlights==
{{LaunchAttempt
| date1           = 2001-11-29 7:41:01 PM
| result1         = Scrubbed
| reason1         = Technical
| decision_date1  = 2001-11-29 10:15
| decision_clock1 = 
| weathergo1      = 70
| notes1          = Docking problem with Progress spacecraft.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harwood |first=William |date=2001-11-29 |title= Shuttle launch delayed by docking snag |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/STS-108_Archive.txt |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=CBS News}}</ref>
| date2           = 2001-12-04 5:45:08 PM
| result2         = Scrubbed
| reason2         = Weather
| decision_date2  = 2001-12-04 5:45:08 PM
| decision_clock2 = −00:05:00
| weathergo2      = 80
| notes2          = Low clouds and light rain at launch pad.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harwood |first=William |date=2001-12-04 |title= Launch delayed by bad weather |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/STS-108_Archive.txt |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=CBS News}}</ref>
| date3           = 2001-12-05 5:19:28 PM
| result3         = Success
| weathergo3      = 70
| notes3          = Cloud decks were approaching KSC and crosswinds were at the shuttle landing facility, but the conditions remained acceptable for launch.<ref name="Thunders">{{Cite news |last=Harwood |first=William |date=2001-12-05 |title=Shuttle Endeavour thunders into orbit |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/STS-108_Archive.txt |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=CBS News}}</ref>
}}
The launch of ''Endeavour'' on 29 November 2001 was rescheduled for 4 December 2001 to allow sufficient time for the Expedition Three crew on the space station to successfully complete a spacewalk to clear an obstruction on the latching mechanism on the Russian Progress supply vehicle.

The launch 4 December was postponed due to unsatisfactory weather conditions in the KSC area. Launch controllers counted down to the T−5-minute point and held until the remainder of the window expired. The scrub had to be called after Astronaut Office Chief Charles Precourt, flying the Shuttle Training Aircraft, detected precipitation in a cloud mass that moved into the Complex 39 area shortly before launch.

''Endeavour'' lifted off 5 December 2001 at 17:19 EST on the final Space Shuttle mission of 2001 to deliver three tons of supplies and a fresh crew to the International Space Station, and return home a crew that spent four months in space.

In addition to a new station crew and supplies, ''Endeavour'' carried a host of scientific investigations, including experiments from space agencies, schools and universities across the United States, Europe and South America, as well as a small satellite that involved more than 25,000 students in 26 countries.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-108.html |title=NASA – STS-108 |access-date=14 June 2008 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223939/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-108.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Crew seat assignments ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! Seat<ref>{{Cite web |title=STS-108 |url=http://spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-108.htm |access-date=July 29, 2024 |publisher=Spacefacts}}</ref>
! Launch
! Landing
|rowspan=8| [[File:Space Shuttle seating plan.svg|150px]]<br />Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck.<br />Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
|-
! 1
|colspan=2| Gorie
|-
! 2
|colspan=2| Kelly
|-
! 3
|Godwin
|style="background-color:lightgray"| ''Unused''

|-
! 4
|colspan=2| Tani
|-
! 5
| Walz
| Godwin
|-
! 6
|Onufriyenko
|Culbertson
|-
! 7
|Bursch
|Tyurin
|-
! 8
|style="background-color:lightgray"| ''Unused''
|Dezhurov
|}

==Mission highlights==

The hatches were opened between ''Endeavour'' and the ISS Destiny Laboratory at 22:42 UTC 7 December 2001, enabling the ten crew members to greet one another. The Expedition 3 crew officially ended their 117-day residency on board the International Space Station 8 December  as their custom Soyuz seat-liners were transferred to ''Endeavour'' for the return trip home. The transfer of the Expedition 4 seat-liners to the Soyuz return vehicle attached to the station marked the official exchange of crews.

''Endeavour'' Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin used the shuttle's robotic arm to lift the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from the shuttle payload bay and attach it to a berth on the station's Unity node. The crews began unloading supplies the same day.

===EVA===
EVA: 4 hours, 12 minutes – On 10 December 2001, ''Endeavour'' astronauts Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani completed a four-hour, 12-minute spacewalk to install insulation on mechanisms that rotate the International Space Station's main solar arrays. The two spacewalkers stopped at a stowage bin to retrieve a cover that had been removed from a station antenna during an earlier flight, and after its return to Earth, may be reused. Godwin and Tani also performed a "getahead;" task, positioning two switches on the station's exterior to be installed on a future shuttle mission, STS-110. The spacewalk completed a record year with 18 spacewalks conducted: 12 originating from the shuttle and six from the station.

===Maintenance and re-supply===
Mission managers extended ''Endeavour'''s flight to a duration of 12 days to allow Endeavour's crew to assist with additional maintenance tasks on the station, including work on a treadmill and replacing a failed compressor in one of the air conditioners in the Zvezda Service Module.

The astronauts and cosmonauts completed the transfer of more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and material from ''Endeavour'''s mid-deck and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. The transferred items included more than 850 pounds of food, 1,000 pounds of clothing and other crew provisions, 300 pounds of experiments and associated equipment, 800 pounds of spacewalking gear, and 600 pounds of medical equipment. In turn, the crew packed up the Raffaello module with items bound for a return trip to Earth.

===IMU failure===
On 12 December 2001, the crew and Mission Control noted a transient problem with one of the shuttle's three inertial measurement units (IMUs), the primary navigation units for the shuttle. Only two of the three IMUs were on line at the time, with the third unit off line to save electricity. The IMU that experienced a problem, designated IMU 2, was immediately taken off line and the third IMU brought on line. IMU 2 operated well after that, but it remained off line and was considered failed by flight controllers. The loss of one IMU had no impact on ''Endeavour'''s mission, and the other two units operated in excellent condition.

A formal change of command ceremony took place 13 December as Expedition 3 ended its residence and Expedition 4 began theirs.<ref name=postflight>[https://space.nss.org/space-shuttle-flight-107-sts-108-post-flight-presentation-video/ Space Shuttle Flight 107 (STS-108) Post Flight Presentation Video]</ref>

===Reboost and departure===
Flight controllers planned slight changes to ''Endeavour'''s departure from the station 15 December 2001, allowing time for a small jet firing by the shuttle to boost the station's future path away from a piece of space debris that could pass near the complex. Mission Control was notified that a spent Russian rocket upper stage{{Clarify|date=February 2011}}<!-- what specific Russian launch rocket was this, from what mission? --> launched in the 1970s could pass within three miles of the station if ''Endeavour'' did not perform the engine firing. With the shuttle reboost, the station was predicted to pass more than 40 miles away from the debris.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}

Because the scheduled reboost used additional propellant, ''Endeavour'' did not perform a full-circle flyaround of the station after undocking. Instead, the shuttle undocked from the station, performing a quarter circle flyaround of the complex to a point about 400 feet directly above the station where it fired its engines in a final separation burn at 12:20&nbsp;am EST, beginning its departure from the orbiting outpost.

===Scientific experiments===
''Endeavour'''s middeck carried home the results of several experiments completed during Expedition 3's stay on the station. These included the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, the Dynamically Controlled Protein Crystal Growth experiment and cells from the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS).

The CBOSS equipment aboard the space station will remain active during Expedition 4, growing ovarian and colon cancer cells, as well as kidney cells in microgravity.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}

Experiments in ''Endeavour''{{'}}s payload bay were returned for investigators around the world. The Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) carried a wide array of experiments, including the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector, the Collisions into Dust Experiment-2, the Capillary Pump Loop, and the Space Experiment Module (SEM). The SEM carried experiments from Argentina, Portugal, Morocco and Australia, as well as experiments from U.S. schoolchildren. Several other canisters in ''Endeavour'''s payload bay also carried student experiments.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}

On its return to Earth, ''Endeavour'''s crew deployed a small satellite called STARSHINE 2 from a canister located in the payload bay. More than 30,000 students from 660 schools in 26 countries will be tracking STARSHINE 2 as it orbits the Earth for eight months. The students, who helped polish STARSHINE's 845 mirrors, will use the information they collect to calculate the density of the Earth's upper atmosphere.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

==Honoring victims of the September 11 attacks==
STS-108 was the first Space Shuttle mission following the [[September 11 attacks]], and remembering it would become a focus of the flight. Security was increased at Kennedy Space Center for press and visitors for the launch, and press activity was more tightly controlled.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/01/16/btsc.obrien.shuttle/ |title=A look at shuttle security after 9/11 |date=January 17, 2003 |publisher=[[CNN]] |accessdate=2022-06-10}}</ref>

In the early morning hours of 12 September 2001, [[New York City Police]] Sergeant Gerald Kane and Detective Peter Friscia, assigned to the office of [[Police Commissioner]] [[Bernard B. Kerik]], retrieved a large American [[flag]] that was tattered and torn and wrapped around a flag pole near in corners of Church and Chambers Street amidst the devastation of the World Trade Center site.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bernardkerik.blogspot.com/2009/02/flag-that-went-to-heaven.html|title = Bernard B. Kerik: The WTC Flag That Went to Heaven|date = 18 February 2009}}</ref>
That American flag, a [[United States Marine Corps|USMC]] flag recovered from the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]], an American flag that flew over the State Capital in Harrisburg, PA on the day of 11 September, the 23 shields (badges) of the fallen NYPD officers; patches, posters and an emblem from the [[FDNY]], patches from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and 6,000 small American flags to honor those lost and those that served in the response and recovery efforts for 9/11 were all flown aboard ''[[Space Shuttle Endeavour|Endeavour]]''.

The 6,000 smaller flags were later given to families that lost loved ones on 9/11 and the flag retrieved from the World Trade Center site is maintained by the Office of the New York City Commissioner of Records.

==Spacewalks==

* '''''Godwin and Tani''''' – EVA 1
* '''EVA 1 start''': 10 December 2001 – 17:52 UTC
* '''EVA 1 end''': 10 December 2001 – 22:04 UTC
* '''Duration''': 4 hours, 12 minutes

==Images==
<gallery widths="300px" perrow="3">
File:STS-108 Dominic Gorie and Mark Kelly in Endeavour's cockpit.jpg|[[Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie|Dominic Pudwill Gorie]], STS-108 commander, and pilot [[Mark Kelly (astronaut)|Mark Kelly]] are in their respective stations during rendezvous operations with the ISS. Pudwill Gorie brought ''Endeavour'' to a gentle linkup with the ISS as the two craft sailed over England.
Image:ISSafterSTS108.jpg|Illustration of the International Space Station during STS-108
File:STS-108 crew.jpg|STS-108 crew with ISS Expedition 3 and 4 crews
File:STS-108 Launch.jpg|The launch of Endeavour on 5 December 2001
File:STS-108 Landing.jpg|STS-108 lands at the [[Shuttle Landing Facility]] at [[Kennedy Space Center]].
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
* [[List of human spaceflights]]
* [[List of International Space Station spacewalks]]
* [[List of Space Shuttle missions]]
* [[List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999]]
* [[Outline of space science]]

==References==
{{Include-NASA}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|STS-108}}
* [http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-108/mission-sts-108.html NASA mission summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119010427/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-108/mission-sts-108.html |date=19 November 2010 }}
* [http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle107.htm STS-108 Video Highlights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211220331/http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttlevideos/shuttle107.htm |date=11 December 2013 }}

{{Crewed ISS flights}}
{{Space Shuttle Endeavour}}
{{All U.S. Space Shuttle Missions}}
{{Orbital launches in 2001}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}

[[Category:Space Shuttle missions]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched in 2001]]