STS-114

STS-114
Discovery performing the first ever rendezvous pitch maneuver during STS-114
NamesSpace Transportation System-114
Mission typeReturn To Flight, ISS logistics
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID2005-026A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.28775
Mission duration13 days, 21 hours, 32 minutes, 48 seconds
Distance travelled9,300,000 kilometres (5,800,000 mi)
Orbits completed219
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Discovery
Launch mass121,483 kilograms (267,824 lb)
Landing mass102,913 kilograms (226,884 lb)
Crew
Crew size7
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateJuly 26, 2005, 14:39:00 (2005-07-26UTC14:39Z) UTC
Launch siteKennedy LC-39B
End of mission
Landing dateAugust 9, 2005, 12:11:22 (2005-08-09UTC12:11:23Z) UTC
Landing siteEdwards Runway 22
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude350 kilometres (220 mi)[1]
Apogee altitude355 kilometres (221 mi)[1]
Inclination51.6 degrees[1]
Period91.59 minutes[1]
EpochJuly 31, 2005[1]
Docking with ISS
Docking portPMA-2
(Destiny forward)
Docking dateJuly 28, 2005
Undocking dateAugust 6, 2005
Time docked8 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes

Back (L-R): Robinson, Thomas, Camarda, Noguchi
Front (L–R): Kelly, Lawrence, Collins
← STS-107
STS-121 →
 

STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Discovery launched at 10:39 EDT (14:39 UTC), July 26, 2005. The launch, 907 days (approx. 29 months) after the loss of Columbia, was approved despite unresolved fuel sensor anomalies in the external tank that had prevented the shuttle from launching on July 13, its originally scheduled date.

The mission ended on August 9, 2005, when Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.[2] Poor weather over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida hampered the shuttle from using its primary landing site.

Analysis of the launch footage showed debris separating from the external tank during ascent; this was of particular concern because it was the issue that had set off the Columbia disaster. As a result, NASA decided on July 27 to postpone future shuttle flights pending additional modifications to the flight hardware. Shuttle flights resumed a year later with STS-121 on July 4, 2006.

  1. ^ a b c d e McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  2. ^ Fabara, Jet. 2005. Shuttle Discovery lands at Edwards after successful space mission Archived March 31, 2022, at the Wayback Machine. Desert Wing, Vol. 57, No. 32, August 12, 2005, issue, pp. 1, 3.

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