STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Space Shuttle Endeavour's primary payloads were the Tranquility module and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center, providing a 360-degree view around the station. Endeavour launched at 04:14 EST (09:14 UTC) on February 8, 2010, and landed at 22:22 EST on February 21, 2010, on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.
Crew
Crew seat assignments
Mission payload
STS-130 carried Tranquility and the Cupola to the International Space Station. Tranquility was manufactured at the Thales Alenia Space factory in Turin, Italy, and transported by aircraft to Florida. It arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Space Station Processing Facility on May 21, 2009. It is also known as Node 3, and was named by a NASA poll as Tranquility.
Shuttle processing
Space Shuttle Endeavour was moved from her hangar in the Orbiter Processing Facility 2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building High bay 1 on December 11, 2009. Roll over began at 13:00 EST and was completed 1 hour and 5 minutes later at 14:05 EST. Endeavour moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39A. The process started at 04:13 EST on January 6, 2010. Before rolling out to the launch pad, engineers at Kennedy Space Center had an extended preparation time to get Endeavour ready to move to the launch pad due to the unusually cold weather. The 3.4 miles (5.5 km) was completed at 10:37 EST. The trip took 6hrs 24min.
Launch attempts The first launch attempt was scheduled for 04:39:00 EST February 7, 2010, with forecasters originally predicting a 70% chance of favorable launch weather conditions at the Kennedy Space Center, but that degraded to 30% hours before the planned launch due to low clouds. The launch was scrubbed. The second launch attempt was successful at 04:14:08 EST (9:14:08 UTC) February 8, 2010.
Mission milestones
The mission marked:
161st NASA crewed space flight 130th shuttle mission since STS-1 24th flight of Endeavour 32nd shuttle mission to the ISS 10th flight of Endeavour to the ISS 1st shuttle flight in 2010 105th post-Challenger mission 17th post-Columbia mission 34th night launch of a shuttle, 21st night launch from launch pad 39A
Mission timeline
February 8 (Flight Day 1: Launch)
Endeavour launched successfully at 4:14:08 EST (9:14:08 UTC). When Endeavour lifted off, the space station was traveling about 212 miles over western Romania. Once in orbit the crew opened the payload bay doors, activated the radiators and deployed the Ku band antenna. Nick Patrick and Kay Hire then proceeded to activate, did a check out of the Shuttle Robotic Arm (SRMS) and then conducted a survey of the payload bay. The crew was also successful in down-linking imagery and video of the external tank to the ground.
February 9 (Flight Day 2) Most of the crew day was spent on conducting the standard inspection of the thermal protection system (TPS). All six of the crew members participated at one point during this task. Once the inspection process had moved to the port wing, astronauts Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick began working on checking out and preparing the spacesuits that will be used during the mission's three spacewalks. Once the survey of the TPS was complete, Stephen Robinson and Kay Hire, with Bob Behnken joining once his spacesuit tasks were complete, began checking out and preparing the tools that will be used during the rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). These tools include a hand-held LIDAR gun used for finding out the closing rate of the shuttle and distance from the ISS, the Orbiter Docking System (ODS) which is the part of the shuttle that connects to the space station and a centerline camera in the ODS to assist the commander George Zamka during docking.
February 10 (Flight Day 3: Rendezvous with ISS) During the first part of the crew's workday, they performed a series of burns to catch up and dock with the International Space Station (ISS). Once the shuttle was 600 feet (180 m) below the ISS, commander George Zamka began what is known as the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver (RPM). During the maneuver, ISS commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer Oleg Kotov took photos of the shuttle's thermal protection system (TPS). Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the ISS at 5:26 UTC (00:06 EST). After completing leak checks the hatches between both vehicles were opened at 6:26 UTC (1:26 EST). The joint Expedition 22/STS-130 crew conducted the standard welcome ceremony and then conducted their safety brief. Once that was complete commander George Zamka, Bob Behnken and Steve Robinson began transferring the spacesuits Behnken and Nick Patrick will use for the three spacewalks. Also during this time Nick Patrick and ISS flight engineer T.J. Creamer picked up the OBSS boom and handed it off to the Space Shuttle robot arm using the station's SSRMS or Canadarm2. The shuttle arm was operated by Kay Hire and pilot Terry Virts.
February 11 (Flight Day 4: Spacewalk 1 preparation) Flight day 4 saw Nick Patrick and Bob Behnken get all the tools they need ready for their spacewalk on flight day 5. While Patrick and Behnken were getting the tools ready, commander George Zamka and ISS flight engineer Soichi Noguchi swapped out the Hard Upper Torso (HUT) on Bob Behnken's suit, since the original HUT had developed a problem with a wire harness and was not powering the Wireless Video System (WVS) or the heaters in his gloves and boots. Once the swap was complete, Zamka and Noguchi tested the suit successfully. The crew also performed a number of transfer related activities during the morning of their work day. After a joint meal together, the crew of STS-130 and ISS commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer T.J. Creamer conducted a PAO event with television stations in Sacramento, California, Mobile, Alabama and a radio station in St. Louis, Missouri. Once the PAO event was finished, the joint crews had some off duty time for the rest of the day. Before the two crews went to bed they conducted a spacewalk procedures review, then got Nick Patrick and Bob Behnken into the Quest Airlock. Behnken and Patrick spent the night there at 10.2 psi instead of at the station's 14.6 psi, breathing pure oxygen for an hour before and after their sleep period in order to prevent decompression sickness.
February 12 (Flight Day 5: Spacewalk 1)
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