STS-133

STS-133
Canadarm2 installs the PMM Leonardo
NamesSpace Transportation System-133
Mission typeISS assembly
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID2011-008A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.37371
Mission duration12 days, 19 hours, 4 minutes, 50 seconds
Distance travelled8,536,190 kilometres (5,304,140 mi)
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Discovery
Launch massOrbiter: 121,840 kilograms (268,620 lb)
Stack: 2,052,610 kilograms (4,525,220 lb)
Dry mass92,867 kilograms (204,736 lb)[1]
Crew
Crew size6
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateFebruary 24, 2011, 21:53:24 (2011-02-24UTC21:53:24Z) UTC[2][3][4]
Launch siteKennedy Space Center, LC-39A
End of mission
Landing dateMarch 9, 2011, 16:58:14 (2011-03-09UTC16:58:15Z) UTC
Landing siteKennedy SLF Runway 15
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude208 kilometres (129 mi)[5]
Apogee altitude232 kilometres (144 mi)[5]
Inclination51.6°[5]
Period88.89 minutes[5]
EpochFebruary 25, 2011[5]
Docking with ISS
Docking portPMA-2
(Harmony forward)
Docking dateFebruary 26, 2011, 19:14 UTC
Undocking dateMarch 7, 2011, 12:00 UTC
Time docked8 days, 16 hours, 46 minutes

From left to right: Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Eric Boe, Steven Lindsey, Michael Barratt and Steve Bowen
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STS-133 (ISS assembly flight ULF5)[6] was the 133rd mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program; during the mission, Space Shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station. It was Discovery's 39th and final mission. The mission launched on February 24, 2011, and landed on March 9, 2011. The crew consisted of six American astronauts, all of whom had been on prior spaceflights, headed by Commander Steven Lindsey. The crew joined the long-duration six person crew of Expedition 26, who were already aboard the space station.[7] About a month before lift-off, one of the original crew members, Tim Kopra, was injured in a bicycle accident. He was replaced by Stephen Bowen.

The mission transported several items to the space station, including the Permanent Multipurpose Module Leonardo, which was left permanently docked to one of the station's ports. The shuttle also carried the third of four ExPRESS Logistics Carriers to the ISS, as well as a humanoid robot called Robonaut.[8] The mission marked both the 133rd flight of the Space Shuttle program and the 39th and final flight of Discovery, with the orbiter completing a cumulative total of a whole year (365 days) in space.

The mission was affected by a series of delays due to technical problems with the external tank and, to a lesser extent, the payload. The launch, initially scheduled for September 2010, was pushed back to October, then to November, then finally to February 2011.

  1. ^ "STS-133 Press Kit" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 6, 2010. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
  2. ^ "NASA TV "Live Events, Mission Coverage" [STS-133]". NASA TV. February 24, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
  3. ^ "Twitter / NASA". NASA. February 24, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
  4. ^ "Discovery in Orbit". NASA. February 24, 2011. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  6. ^ NASA (September 24, 2009). "Consolidated Launch Manifest". NASA. Archived from the original on March 7, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  7. ^ NASA (October 14, 2009). "NASA's Shuttle and Rocket Missions". NASA. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
  8. ^ "Last Flight of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133". Outer Space Universe. February 19, 2011. Retrieved February 20, 2011.

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