STS-122

STS-122 is the name of the 121st flight of the Space Shuttle, taking seven people into outer space to visit the International Space Station. The flight delivered a module to the space station, called Columbus. The Space Shuttle Atlantis carried the module. The flight started at 19:45 UTC, on 7 February 2008, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight ended on 20 February, at 14:07 UTC, when the Shuttle went back to the Kennedy Space Center.

STS-122

Atlantis launches with Columbus
Mission type	ISS assembly
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2008-005A
SATCAT no.	32486
Mission duration	12 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes, 50 seconds
Distance travelled	8,500,000 kilometres (5,300,000 mi)
Orbits completed	202
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch mass	121,264 kilograms (267,341 lb)
Landing mass	93,536 kilograms (206,212 lb)
Crew
Crew size	7
Members	Stephen Frick Alan G. Poindexter Leland D. Melvin Rex J. Walheim Hans Schlegel Stanley G. Love
Launching	Léopold Eyharts
Landing	Daniel M. Tani
Start of mission
Launch date	7 February 2008, 19:45 (2008-02-07UTC19:45Z) UTC
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Landing date	20 February 2008, 14:07:10 (2008-02-20UTC14:07:11Z) UTC
Landing site	Kennedy SLF Runway 15
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	331 kilometres (206 mi)
Apogee	339 kilometres (211 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Period	91.23 minutes
Epoch	9 February 2008
Docking with ISS
Docking port	PMA-2 (Harmony forward)
Docking date	9 February 2008, 17:17 UTC
Undocking date	18 February 2008, 09:24 UTC
Time docked	8 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes
Left to right - Front row: Frick, Eyharts, Poindexter; Back row: Melvin, Walheim, Love, Schlegel Space Shuttle program

Crew

Seven people were aboard the Space Shuttle. They are; Stephen Frick, who was the Commander, the man in charge of the Space Shuttle, Alan G. Poindexter, who was the Pilot, the man who flied the Shuttle, Leland D. Melvin, Rex J. Walheim, Hans Schlegel and Stanley G. Love, who were there to fit the Columbus onto the space station. Léopold Eyharts was also on board. He lived on the Space Station for a month. Daniel M. Tani, who was on the space station came home aboard the Soyuz spacecraft.

Flight

Launch

The flight was originally scheduled to launch, on 6 December 2007. A problem with a part of the fuel tank used to work out how much fuel was left went wrong, which meant the start of the flight had to be delayed. After the same part went wrong in an attempt to start the flight on 9 December, the start of the flight was moved to January 2008, and later to February. The flight started on 7 February 2008. Some people at NASA were worried that bad weather might stop the launch, but the bad weather cleared up in time for a good launch.

Landing

At 13:00 UTC, a 2-minute-43-second de-orbit (opposite of making an orbit) burn was conducted. Then it entered in the atmosphere at 13:35 UTC. Atlantis touched down on Runway 15 of the Kennedy Space Center at 9:07:10 EST (14:07:10 UTC). The wheels of the orbiter stopped at 09:08:08 EST (14:08:08 UTC).

Mission

The people aboard STS-122 had several jobs to do. The main job was to add the new room, or module, Columbus, to the space station. To do this, a robot arm, called a Remote Manipulator System, or RMS, will be used to lift Columbus out of the Space Shuttle, and move it over to a gap in the side of the space station. Two of the crew will then go outside, and fit parts to the module. Columbus will be used for scientific research.