STS-113

USA

Manned Flight nº: 236

Earth orbit Flight nº: 233

USA manned Flight nº: 143

21th manned flight to ISS. Flight: ISS-16-11A

Launch, orbit & landing data:

Designation	27556 / 02052A
Launch date - time	24 Nov 2002 - 00:49:47 UT
Launch site	KSC, LC39A
Launch vehicle	Space Shuttle
Orbiter	Endeavour #19 (OV-105)
Mass (kg)
Launch Crew	Wetherbee, Lockhart, Lopez-Alegria Herrington, Bowersox, Pettit, Budarin
Docking date - time	25 Nov 2002 - 21:59 UT
Target spacecraft/port	ISS/xx port
Earth orbit on :
- Perigee / Apogee	233 x 314 km
- Inclination	51.60°
- Period	90.0 min
Undocking date - time	02 Dec 2002 - 20:25 UT
Landing date - time	07 Dec 2002 - 19:37:12 UT (wheel stop, 19h.38m.25s UT)
Landing location	KSC, Runway 33
Flight Duration (d:hr:min)	13d 18h 47m
Nbr orbits	215
Landing crew	Wetherbee, Lockhart, Lopez-Alegria Herrington, Korzun, Whitson, Treschev (crew STS-113 & STS-111)

Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit landed with Soyuz TMA-1 on 4 May 2003 (2534 orbits)

Crew

Nr.	Surname	Given name	Job	Duration
1	Wetherbee	James Donald	CDR	13d 18h 48m
2	Lockhart	Paul Scott	PLT	13d 18h 48m
3	Lopez-Alegria	Michael Eladio	MS1	13d 18h 48m
4	Herrington	John Bennett	MS2	13d 18h 48m
5	Bowersox	Kenneth Dwane	ISS-Com	161d 01h 14m
6	Pettit	Donald Roy	Flight eng	161d 01h 14m
7	Budarin	Nikolai Mikhailovich	Flight eng	161d 01h 14m

Summary:

Launch from KSC; landing on KSC.
Delivery of the new crew and Integrated Truss Assembly P1 solar array truss segment, a 13,7 meters-long, 12,5-ton beam packed with computers, a complex ammonia cooling system and other equipment, was attached to the station; EVA by Lopez-Alegria and Herrington on 26.11.2002 (6h 45m) to hook up connections between the P1 and S0 trusses and other installations; second EVA by Lopez-Alegria and Herrington on 28.11.2002 (6h 10m) to install the fluid jumpers where the S0 and the P1 are attached to each other, to remove the P1's starboard keel pin and to relocate the CETA cart from the P1 to the S1 Truss, which will allow the Mobile Transporter to move along the P1 to assist in upcoming assembly mission; third and final EVA by Lopez-Alegria and Herrington on 30.11.2002 (7h 00m) to install more SPD's (Spool Positioning Devices), to reconfigure electrical harnesses that route power through the Main Bus Switching Units and to attach Ammonia Tank Assembly lines; mission was extended three days due of bad weather on Cape Canaveral (KSC).

Description:

The next Shuttle mission is STS-113. Orbiter OV-105 Endeavour will carry the P1 truss to the Station and attach it to the S0 truss. Endeavour also will deploy the MEPSI satellite for the US Air Force and DARPA. MEPSI (Micro-Electromechanical-based Picosat Satellite Inspection Experiment) consists of two 1 kg boxes attached to each other by a 15-m tether. The boxes include an imaging camera and a MEM transceiver. They will be ejected from the PLA (Picosat Launch Assembly), a 6 kg box attached to an Adaptive Payload Carrier (APC) on the payload bay side wall.
Endeavour's crew are Jim Wetherbee (CDR), Paul Lockhart (PLT), Michael Lopez-Alegria (MS1) and John Herrington (MS2). In addition, Ken Bowersox (MS3), Nikolai Budarin (MS4) and Don Pettit (MS5) will fly on Endeavour and replace the current station crew, becoming Expedition 6 (EO-6) Commander, Flight Engineer 1, and Flight Engineer 2/Science Officer respectively. The current EO-5 crew of Valeriy Korzun, Sergey Treshchev and Peggy Whitson will return to Earth.

Cargo bay description:

Cargo Bay estimate for STS-113:

                                                        Mass/kg
Bay 1-2    Orbiter Docking System                        1800
           2 EMU spacesuits?                              240?
Bay 3S     MEPSI                                            8
Bay 3-13   P1 Integrated Truss Segment                  12193?
           CETA Cart B                                    283?
Sill       RMS                                            410
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                   14934?

Mission details:

Endeavour was launched at 0049 UTC on Nov 24, 2002 on Shuttle mission STS-113. STS-113 delivered the Expedition 6 crew and the P1 truss segment to the International Space Station.
The SRBs separated 2 min after launch. The OMS engines fired in the now-standard OMS assist burn during the early part of the ascent; a valve in the right OMS engine did not completely open during the burn, and it was decided to use only the left OMS engine for later burns. The main engines cut off 8 min after launch at 0058 UTC and the ET separated, with both ET and orbiter in a 59 x 232 km x 51.6 deg orbit. At 0127 UTC the ET and Endeavour reached apogee and Endeavour fired the left OMS engine for 5 minutes to raise its perigee. The ET fell back down for reentry over the Pacific.
Endeavour docked with the International Space Station on Nov 25, 2002 at 2159 UTC. The Orbiter RMS grappled the P1 truss in its cargo bay at 1501 UTC on Nov 26 and unberthed it at 1522 UTC. The Station SSRMS grappled P1 at 1641 UTC and the Orbiter RMS released it at 1650 UTC, completing the first robot arm handover of a station segment. The SSRMS moved P1 to the end of the S0 truss and connected it between 1836 and 1848 UTC.
Lopez-Alegria and Herrington made the first spacewalk on Nov 26 from the Quest airlock. Depressurization was around 1945 UTC, with hatch open at 1947 UTC and egress of Lopez-Alegria at 2000 UTC, with Herrington following a few minutes later. The astronauts attached the P1/S0 umbilicals, removed the P1 drag links and the CETA-B cart's launch restraints. They also installed more SPD disconnects on the ammonia lines, and attached a TV camera to the truss. The astronauts reentered the airlock between 0206 and 0216 UTC on Nov 27 and closed the hatch at 0229 UTC. Repressurization was at 0235 UTC for a duration of 6h50m (depress/repress), 6h42m (hatch open/close), or 6h45m (by NASA rules).
EVA-2 began on Nov 28 with depressurization at about 1831 UTC and hatch open around 1833 UTC. The astronauts went to EMU battery power at 1836 UTC and emerged from Quest at about 1845 UTC. They removed P1 keel pins and installed TV cameras, and moved the CETA-2 cart from P1 to S1. Hatch was closed at 0041 UTC with repress at 0046 UTC for a duration of about 6h15m (depress/repress), 6h08m (hatch open/close) or 6h10m (NASA rules).
On Nov 30 the Mobile Transporter was moved from worksite 4 on S0 to worksite 7 at the end of P1. Motion began at 1621 UTC but the MT got stuck a few meters short of its goal, foiling plans to use it as a base for the SSRMS arm during the spacewalk.
EVA-3 began with depressurization at 1921 UTC and hatch open at 1924 UTC. The astronauts went to battery power at 1925 UTC. Herrington deployed the P1 UHF antenna which was blocking the MT's path and the MT finally reached its destination at 0011 UTC. The astronauts returned to Quest at 0215 UTC, closing the hatch at 0222 UTC and beginning repressurization at 0225 UTC for a duration of 7h04m (depress/repress), 6h58m (hatch open/close), or 7h00m (NASA rules). During the spacewalk, the astronauts installed more fixes to the Station's ammonia line connectors.
At 2005 UTC on Dec 2, 2002 Endeavour undocked from the Station with the Expedition 5 crew aboard. Shortly afterwards, at 2205, the US Air Force MEPSI experiment was launched from a canister in the payload bay. MEPSI is a pair of 1 kg picosatellites connected by a tether and is a prototype for a miniature inspector satellite.
After several days of bad weather delays, Endeavour landed on KSC runway 33 at 1937:12 UTC on Dec 7, 2002.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel KSC. Credit: J. Vd Dr.

Ref.: #7(JR489-492), #16, #21, #415 - update: 06.04.19

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