This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2024) |
Names | Space Transportation System-103 |
---|---|
Mission type | Hubble Space Telescope servicing |
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1999-069A |
SATCAT no. | 25996 |
Mission duration | 7 days, 23 hours, 11 minutes 34 seconds |
Distance travelled | 5,230,000 kilometres (3,250,000 mi) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Discovery |
Launch mass | 112,493 kilograms (248,005 lb) |
Landing mass | 95,768 kilograms (211,132 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 7 |
Members | |
EVAs | 3 |
EVA duration | 24 hours, 33 minutes |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 20 December 1999 00:50:00 UTC |
Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 28 December 1999 00:01:34 UTC |
Landing site | Kennedy SLF Runway 33 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Perigee altitude | 563 kilometres (350 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 609 kilometres (378 mi) |
Inclination | 28.45 degrees |
Period | 96.4 minutes |
Capture of Hubble | |
RMS capture | 22 December 1999, 00:34 UTC [1] |
RMS release | 25 December 1999, 11:03 UTC [2] |
Left to right; C. Michael Foale, Claude Nicollier, Scott J. Kelly, Curtis L. Brown Jr., Jean-Francois Clervoy, John M. Grunsfeld and Steven L. Smith |
STS-103, the 96th launch of the Space Shuttle and the 27th launch of Space Shuttle Discovery , was a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 19 December 1999 and returned on 27 December 1999 and was the last Shuttle mission of the 1990s. It was the only mission to span through Christmas after being delayed by 13 days for technical and weather reasons.
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Curtis L. Brown Jr. Sixth and last spaceflight | |
Pilot | Scott J. Kelly First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 1 | John M. Grunsfeld Third spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 2 | Jean-François Clervoy, ESA Third and last spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 3 | / Michael Foale Fifth spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 4 | Steven L. Smith Third spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist 5 | Claude Nicollier, ESA Fourth and last spaceflight |
The primary objective of STS-103 was the Hubble Servicing Mission 3A. STS-103 had four scheduled Extravehicular Activity (EVA) days where four crew members worked in pairs on alternating days to renew and refurbish the telescope.
NASA officials decided to move up part of the servicing mission that had been scheduled for June 2000 after three of the telescope's six gyroscopes failed. Three gyroscopes must be working to meet the telescope's very precise pointing requirements, and the telescope's flight rules dictated that NASA consider a "call-up" mission before a fourth gyroscope failed. Four new gyros were installed during the first servicing mission (STS-61) in December 1993 and all six gyros were working during the second servicing mission (STS-82) in February 1997. Since then, a gyro failed in 1997, another in 1998 and a third in 1999. The Hubble team believed they understood the cause of the failures, although they could not be certain until the gyros were returned from space. Having fewer than three working gyroscopes would have precluded science observations, although the telescope would have remained safely in orbit until a servicing crew arrived.
Hubble's gyros spin at a constant rate of 19,200 rpm on gas bearings. This wheel is mounted in a sealed cylinder, which floats in a thick fluid. Electricity is carried to the motor by thin wires (approximately the size of a human hair). It is believed that oxygen in the pressurized air used during the assembly process caused the wires to corrode and break. The new gyros were assembled using nitrogen instead of oxygen. Each gyroscope is packaged in a Rate Sensor assembly. The Rate Sensors are packaged in pairs into an assembly called a Rate Sensor Unit (RSU). It is the RSUs that the STS-103's astronauts changed. The RSUs each weigh 11.0 kilograms (24.3 lb) and are 12.8 by 10.5 by 8.9 inches (325 by 267 by 226 mm) in size.
In addition to replacing all six gyroscopes on the December flight, the crew replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and the spacecraft's computer. The new computer reduced the burden of flight software maintenance and significantly lowered costs. The new computer was 20 times faster and had six times the memory of the DF-224 computer previously used on Hubble. It weighs 32.0 kilograms (70.5 lb) and is 18.8 by 18 by 13 inches (478 by 457 by 330 mm) in size. The FGS installed was a refurbished unit that was returned from Servicing Mission 2. It weighs 217 kilograms (478 lb) and is 5.5 by 4 by 2 feet (1.68 by 1.22 by 0.61 m) in size.
A voltage/temperature improvement kit (VIK) was also installed to protect spacecraft batteries from overcharging and overheating when the spacecraft goes into safe mode. The VIK modifies the charge cutoff voltage to a lower level to prevent battery overcharging and associated overheating. The VIK weighs about 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb).
The repair mission also installed a new S-Band Single Access Transmitter (SSAT). Hubble has two identical SSATs onboard and can operate with only one. The SSATs send data from Hubble through NASA's Tracking Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) to the ground. The new transmitter replaced one that failed in 1998. The SSAT weighs 3.9 kilograms (8.6 lb) and is 14 by 8 by 2+3⁄4 inches (356 by 203 by 70 mm).
A spare solid state recorder was also installed to allow efficient handling of high-volume data. Prior to the second servicing mission, Hubble used three 1970s-style reel-to-reel tape recorders. During the second servicing mission, one of these mechanical recorders was replaced with a digital solid state recorder. During this mission a second mechanical recorder was replaced by a second solid state recorder. The new recorder could hold approximately 10 times as much data as the old unit (12 gigabytes instead of 1.2 gigabytes). The recorder weighs 11.3 kilograms (25 lb) and is 12 by 9 by 7 inches in size.
Finally, the EVA crew replaced the telescope's outer insulation that had degraded. The insulation is necessary to control the internal temperature on the Hubble. The New Outer Blanket Layer (NOBL) and Shell/Shield Replacement Fabric (SSRF) help protect Hubble from the harsh environment of space. It protects the telescope from the severe and rapid temperature changes it experiences during each 90 minute orbit as it moves from sunlight to darkness.
STS-103 also carried hundreds of thousands of student signatures as part of the Student Signatures in Space (S3) program. The unique project provided elementary schools (selected on a rotating basis) with special posters to be autographed by students, then scanned onto disks and carried aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission.
It was the Discovery's last solo spaceflight. All later missions by Discovery were International Space Station missions.
Astronaut John Grunsfeld, who was one of the mission specialists on this mission, brought a "Planet Mars Flag" aboard Discovery.
Attempt | Planned | Result | Turnaround | Reason | Decision point | Weather go (%) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 Dec 1999, 2:37:00 am | Scrubbed | — | Technical | Additional wiring inspection | ||
2 | 16 Dec 1999, 9:18:00 pm | Scrubbed | 10 days, 18 hours, 41 minutes | Technical | Concern about fuel line welds [3] | ||
3 | 17 Dec 1999, 8:47:00 pm | Scrubbed | 0 days, 23 hours, 29 minutes | Weather | 20% | ||
4 | 18 Dec 1999, 8:21:00 pm | Scrubbed | 0 days, 23 hours, 34 minutes | Weather | |||
5 | 19 Dec 1999, 7:50:00 pm | Success | 0 days, 23 hours, 29 minutes | - | 60% |
NASA began a tradition of playing music to astronauts during the Gemini program, which was first used to wake up a flight crew during Apollo 15. [4] Each track is specially chosen, often by their families, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities. [4] [5]
Flight day | Song | Artist/composer |
---|---|---|
Day 2 | "Takin' Care of Business" | Bachman–Turner Overdrive |
Day 3 | "Rendezvous" | Bruce Springsteen |
Day 4 | "Hucklebuck" | Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Rollers |
Day 6 | "Magic Carpet Ride" | Steppenwolf |
Day 7 | "I'll Be Home for Christmas" | Bing Crosby |
Day 8 | "We're So Good Together" | Reba McEntire |
Day 9 | "The Cup of Life" | Ricky Martin |
The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versatile, renowned as a vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy. The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble and is one of NASA's Great Observatories. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) selects Hubble's targets and processes the resulting data, while the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) controls the spacecraft.
Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman is a retired United States Navy Captain and naval aviator, engineer, test pilot and former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. His fourth mission on STS-125 was the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. As of November 2022, he is the president of the Space operating group for ASRC Federal.
STS-51 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) in September 1993. The flight also featured the deployment and retrieval of the SPAS-ORFEUS satellite and its IMAX camera, which captured spectacular footage of Discovery in space. A spacewalk was also performed during the mission to evaluate tools and techniques for the STS-61 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission later that year. STS-51 was the first shuttle mission to fly a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, a Trimble TANS Quadrex. It was mounted in an overhead window where limited field of view (FoV) and signal attenuation from the glass severely impacted receiver performance. Full triple-redundant 3-string GPS would not happen until 14 years later with STS-118 in 2007.
STS-61 was NASA's first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The mission launched on December 2, 1993, from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The mission restored the spaceborne observatory's vision with the installation of a new main camera and a corrective optics package (COSTAR). This correction occurred more than three and a half years after the Hubble was launched aboard STS-31 in April 1990. The flight also brought instrument upgrades and new solar arrays to the telescope. With its very heavy workload, the STS-61 mission was one of the most complex in the Shuttle's history.
Curtis Lee "Curt" Brown Jr. is a former NASA astronaut and retired United States Air Force colonel.
Claude Nicollier is the first astronaut from Switzerland. He has flown on four Space Shuttle missions. His first spaceflight (STS-46) was in 1992, and his final spaceflight (STS-103) was in 1999. He took part in two servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope. During his final spaceflight he participated in a spacewalk, becoming the first European Space Agency astronaut to do so during a Space Shuttle mission. In 2000 he was assigned to the Astronaut Office Extravehicular Activity Branch, while maintaining a position as Lead ESA Astronaut in Houston. Nicollier retired from ESA in April 2007.
STS-79 was the 17th flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis, and the 79th mission of the Space Shuttle program. The flight saw Atlantis dock with the Russian space station Mir to deliver equipment, supplies and relief personnel. A variety of scientific experiments were also conducted aboard Atlantis by her crew. It was the first shuttle mission to rendezvous with a fully assembled Mir, and the fourth rendezvous of a shuttle to the space station.
STS-81 was a January 1997 Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station.
STS-82 was the 22nd flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the 82nd mission of the Space Shuttle program. It was NASA's second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, during which Discovery's crew repaired and upgraded the telescope's scientific instruments, increasing its research capabilities. Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 11, 1997, returning to Earth on February 21, 1997, at Kennedy Space Center.
STS-84 was a crewed spaceflight mission by Space Shuttle Atlantis to the Mir space station.
STS-92 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery. STS-92 marked the 100th mission of the Space Shuttle. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 11 October 2000.
STS-105 was a mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 10 August 2001. This mission was Discovery's final mission until STS-114, because Discovery was grounded for a refit, and then all Shuttles were grounded in the wake of the Columbia disaster. The refit included an update of the flight deck to the glass cockpit layout, which was already installed on Atlantis and Columbia.
STS-109 (SM3B) was a Space Shuttle mission that launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 1 March 2002. It was the 108th mission of the Space Shuttle program, the 27th flight of the orbiter Columbia and the fourth servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. It was also the last successful mission of the orbiter Columbia before the ill-fated STS-107 mission, which culminated in the Columbia disaster.
John Mace Grunsfeld is an American physicist and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five Space Shuttle flights and has served as NASA Chief Scientist. His academic background includes research in high energy astrophysics, cosmic ray physics and the emerging field of exoplanet studies with specific interest in future astronomical instrumentation. After retiring from NASA in 2009, he served as the deputy director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. In January 2012, he returned to NASA and served as associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Grunsfeld announced his retirement from NASA in April 2016.
Gregory Jordan "Greg" Harbaugh is an aeronautical/astronautical engineer and former NASA astronaut. He flew on four space shuttle missions as a mission specialist with responsibilities that included Remote Manipulator System (RMS) operation and Extravehicular Activity (EVAs). He performed three spacewalks during the shuttle missions including in support of repair/refurbishment of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Richard Michael Linnehan is a United States Army veterinarian and a NASA astronaut.
STS-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS), flown by the Space ShuttleAtlantis. STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 121st Space Shuttle flight overall.
STS-125, or HST-SM4, was the fifth and final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis occurred on May 11, 2009, at 2:01 pm EDT. Landing occurred on May 24 at 11:39 am EDT, with the mission lasting a total of just under 13 days.
STS-400 was the Space Shuttle contingency support flight that would have been launched using Space ShuttleEndeavour if a major problem occurred on Space ShuttleAtlantis during STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.
Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) for the Hubble Space Telescope is a system of three instruments used for pointing the telescope in space, and also for astrometry and its related sciences. To enable aiming the telescope at a specific spot in the sky, each FGS combines optics and electronics. There are three Hubble FGS, and they have been upgraded over the lifetime of the telescope by crewed Space Shuttle missions. The instruments can support pointing of 2 milli-arc seconds. The three FGS are part of the Hubble Space Telescope's Pointing Control System, aka PCS. The FGS function in combination with the Hubble main computer and gyroscopes, with the FGS providing data to the computer as sensors which enables the HST to track astronomical targets.