STS-121
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This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. |
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| Mission statistics | |||||
| Mission | STS-121 | ||||
| Shuttle | Discovery | ||||
| Launch pad | 39-B | ||||
| Launch | May 16, 2006 | ||||
| Landing | May 27,2006 | ||||
| Duration | 11 days | ||||
| Orbit altitude | 122 nautical miles (225 km) | ||||
| Orbit inclination | 51.6 degrees | ||||
| Distance traveled | TBD | ||||
| Crew photo | |||||
 (L-R) Fossum, Sellers, Nowak, Lindsey, Kelly, Wilson |
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STS-121 is considered a test flight. The launch is now planned for May 2006 [1], but may be postponed due to Hurricane Katrina. NASA has suspended all Space Shuttle flights until the foam debris problem that doomed STS-107 and reappeared in STS-114 is fixed.
STS-121 has been reassigned to the Space Shuttle Discovery, and Atlantis will be the rescue vehicle due to fuel tank issues.
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Crew
- Steven W. Lindsey (4), Commander
- Mark E. Kelly (2), Pilot
- Michael E. Fossum (1), Mission Specialist
- Piers Sellers (2), Mission Specialist
- Lisa Nowak (1), Mission Specialist
- Stephanie Wilson (1), Mission Specialist
- Thomas Reiter (2), ISS Expedition 13 - ESA/Germany
Astronaut Piers Sellers will replace Carlos Noriega on the STS-121 mission that follows the return-to-flight trip to the International Space Station, NASA announced on Thursday, July 15, 2004. This is due to an undisclosed, temporary medical condition.
Thomas Reiter was scheduled to be dropped off at the ISS to join the other Expedition 11 crew members (A position previously planned to be filled by Sergei A. Volkov (Russia)), but since the launch of STS-121 has now been pushed back until at least May 2006, he will be joining the Expedition 13 crew.
Mission parameters
- Mass: -
- Perigee: -
- Apogee: -
- Inclination: 51.6°
- Period: -
Mission highlights
The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery will continue to test new equipment and procedures that increase the safety of Space Shuttles during the STS-121 mission to the International Space Station. It also will deliver more supplies and cargo for future Station expansion.
NASA decided two test flights would be required after the Columbia accident, and activities that were originally assigned to STS-114 needed to be divided into two missions because of the addition of post-Columbia tests on orbit. Before the accident, Columbia had been assigned to STS-118 and STS-121. The STS-118 mission is an International Space Station flight, which had been re-assigned to the Space Shuttle Discovery but has since once again transfered to Space Shuttle Endeavour. The STS-121 mission was to have sent Columbia to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Since, at the time, that servicing mission was cancelled, the designation of STS-121 opened up. STS-115 through STS-120 were already taken, so NASA selected the lowest available mission designation for the second test flight. Hence, this is why the mission following STS-114 is named STS-121.
The STS-121 test flight originally was to be flown aboard the orbiter Discovery in September 2005, after Atlantis flew STS-114, but a problem with the landing gear of Atlantis moved Discovery ahead to fly STS-114. Then, after the return of Discovery to California, scheduling again changed, with Atlantis being moved to fly the STS-115 mission (whose launch was planned for May 2006, ) and Discovery flying the STS-121 mission as originally planned, which has now been pushed to May 2006 due to the unresolved foam debris issue.
Related articles
- Space science
- Space shuttle
- List of space shuttle missions
- List of human spaceflights chronologically
