CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The space shuttle Discovery and its crew landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on Wednesday at 1:01 p.m. EST after completing a 15-day journey of more than 6.2 million miles in space.

Discovery’s STS-120 mission added a key component to the International Space Station and featured an unprecedented spacewalk to repair a damaged solar array.

“This mission demonstrates the value of having humans in space and our ingenuity in solving problems,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space operations, NASA Headquarters, Washington. “The teams on the ground worked around the clock, along with the crews in space, to develop a plan to fix the array. Our high level of preparedness gave us the edge necessary to make this a successful mission.”

Discovery’s crew of Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, Doug Wheelock, Stephanie Wilson, Clayton Anderson and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli delivered the Node 2 module, known as Harmony. Harmony will provide attachment points for European and Japanese laboratories to be added later this year and early in 2008.

In addition to Harmony’s installation, Discovery’s crew performed three spacewalks and relocated the P6 truss and solar arrays to its permanent position on the left side of the station. During the fourth spacewalk, the crew repaired a torn solar array on the truss, enabling the full deployment of the array.

The crew and ground teams also worked on a problem with one of the station’s Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which allows the right side arrays to track the sun. On the second spacewalk, the joint was inspected, and metal shavings were discovered. Samples of the shavings returned with Discovery for further analysis. In the meantime, use of the joint will be limited to occasional adjustments for optimal position in relation to the sun.

Melroy and Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson made history on Thursday, Oct. 25, when the hatch between the space shuttle and orbiting outpost was opened. They became the first female spacecraft commanders to lead space shuttle and space station missions concurrently.

NASA astronaut and station Flight Engineer Daniel Tani, who launched with the crew aboard Discovery, remained on the station. He is scheduled to return home aboard space shuttle Atlantis on a mission targeted to launch Dec. 6. Tani replaced Anderson, who spent almost five months on the station, arriving in June 2007 aboard shuttle Atlantis.

Several inspections in orbit revealed no critical damage to Discovery, and the shuttle’s thermal protection system was declared safe for re-entry on Tuesday. Workers immediately will begin processing the orbiter for its next flight, targeted for April 2008.

With Discovery and its crew safely home, the stage is set for the next phase of station assembly. Before Atlantis’ STS-122 mission delivers the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory module to the station, Harmony must be relocated to its permanent location at the front of the complex. The station crew will conduct three spacewalks and robotically move two components this month to complete that task, allowing Atlantis to dock and Columbus to attach to Harmony.

The seven astronauts on board space shuttle Discovery completed final preparations today for their return home with landing planned for the first of two opportunities to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at 1:02 p.m., EST, Wednesday.

In preparation for the return home, the crew tested flight control systems and thruster jets, stowed equipment and installed a special reclining seat for Clay Anderson, who is returning after more than five months on board the International Space Station. Later, the crew oversaw an orbit adjust maneuver to optimize landing opportunities with weather forecasts indicating favorable conditions for Wednesday’s landing.

Early Wednesday morning, Entry Team Flight Director Bryan Lunney and his team will oversee Discovery’s reentry and landing with the deorbit burn set for 11:59 a.m. The 1 minute, 58 second burn will slow Discovery by 148 miles per hour (217 feet per second) for the reentry across the heartland of the United States traveling from the northwest to southeast.

It is the first cross-country landing attempt since the Columbia disaster in February, 2003. Subsequent flights have limited over-land approaches. However, today’s re-entry and landing path was selected to permit a daylight arrival at the Kennedy Space Center following a particularly taxing mission.

A second landing opportunity also is available about 90 minutes later. Lunney will consider Florida only for Wednesday’s landing attempts with plenty of consumables on board to stay in space through Saturday, if necessary.

After its final on-orbit wakeup call from Mission Control on Wednesday, the crew began landing preparations at 8:03 a.m. and will close Discovery’s payload bay doors at 12:42 p.m. for reentry.

Aboard the space station, Commander Peggy Whitson, and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Dan Tani had some off duty time before their full-court press toward Friday’s spacewalk by Whitson and Malenchenko to prepare Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 for its relocation Nov. 12.

During its stay at the station, which began Oct. 25, the STS-120 crew continued the on-orbit construction of the station with the installation of the Harmony Node 2 module and the relocation of the P6 truss.

The crew installed Harmony Oct. 26 and conducted four spacewalks at the station. During the third spacewalk, the crew installed the P6 truss and solar array pair in its permanent location outboard of the port truss.

The fourth spacewalk was changed during the mission so that the crew could repair a torn solar array on the P6 truss. Following the successful repair work, the crew was able to fully deploy the solar array.

Discovery also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Daniel Tani.

— SOAR Magazine contributed to this report

Astronauts Fix Solar Array:

Astronaut Scott Parazynski, riding on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, assesses his repair work as the solar array is fully deployed. He and Doug Wheelock were sent on an improvised spacewalk to fix the array, which had been torn.NASA photo.

Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock successfully repaired a torn solar array today during STS-120’s fourth spacewalk. The 7-hour, 19-minute excursion wrapped up at 1:22 p.m. EDT.

Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski rode the station’s robotic arm up to the damaged area of the array. He was secured in a foot restraint on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, or OBSS – the extension to the shuttle robot arm used for inspection of the orbiter’s thermal protection system.

After reaching the area of the damage, Parazynski went to work installing the cufflinks that were built by the crew. Once the five cufflinks were in place, the crew inside then deployed the array half a bay at a time until the array was fully deployed.

Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli coordinated today’s spacewalk activities.

Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel Tani successfully completed the second spacewalk of the STS-120 mission at 12:05 p.m. EDT Sunday.

Parazynski and Tani completed preparations for the relocation of the P6 truss segment early in the spacewalk. Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson and Doug Wheelock used the station robotic arm to remove the P6. They placed the solar array section in a temporary holding position for Sunday night before they hand it off to the shuttle’s robotic arm Monday morning.

Tani performed a couple of inspections requested by mission managers. He photographed the handrail on the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid cart, but he did not note any apparent sharp edges. While inspecting a rotary joint used to rotate solar arrays he noticed metal shavings and unusual wear on a race ring. The joint has been showing some increased friction lately, and engineers are analyzing potential causes.

The next spacewalk is scheduled to take place Tuesday. Parazynski and Wheelock will team up to assist with robotic arm attachment of the P6 truss in its new location on P5.

During a post-Mission Management Team interview, mission managers announced that Discovery’s thermal protection system, or heat shield, is cleared for landing.

In Harmony:

Astronauts Peggy Whitson (left) and Paolo Nespoli enter the Harmony module for the first time. They are wearing goggles and masks to avoid contact with possible floating debris in the new module. The STS-120 crew delivered Harmony to the International Space Station and it was installed during the mission’s first spacewalk. NASA photo.

The STS-120 and Expedition 16 crews entered the Harmony module for the first time at 8:24 a.m EDT after Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli and Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson opened the hatches. Harmony will provide the docking ports for new research laboratories from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The laboratories will be delivered to the station on upcoming shuttle missions.

The crews are also preparing for Sunday’s spacewalk, the second of the mission. The spacewalk will be conducted by Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel Tani. To prepare, they will do an overnight “campout” in the station’s airlock.

STS-120’s First Spacewalk:

Mission Specialist Doug Wheelock rides the end of the International Space Station’s robotic arm into Discovery’s payload bay during the first spacewalk of STS-120. NASA photo.

STS-120 Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock kicked off STS-120’s first spacewalk at 6:02 a.m. EDT on Thursday to prepare Harmony for removal from Discovery’s payload bay.

Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli served as the spacewalk coordinator, assisting the spacewalkers with their tasks from inside the spacecraft. Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson and Clay Anderson and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel Tani were at the controls of the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm.

It proved to be a perfect day for a spacewalk.

In just over six hours, Parazynski and Wheelock installed the Harmony module in its temporary location on the International Space Station, readied the P6 truss for its relocation on Sunday, retrieved a failed radio communications antenna and snapped shut a window cover on Harmony that opened during launch on the space shuttle.

Kicking off the excursion, the spacewalkers removed and stowed the S-band Antenna Structural Assembly. They also secured a Payload and Data Grapple Fixture onto Harmony that could not be in place during launch, removed contamination covers and disconnected the power cables linking Harmony to Discovery.

The astronauts plan to enter Harmony for the first time at 8:03 a.m. Saturday after Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli and Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson open the hatches. The stations newest pressurized module adds 2,666 cubic feet of volume, increasing the stations living space by nearly 20 percent (from 15,000 to 17,666 cubic feet).

Mission managers today determined a focused inspection of Discoverys heat shield is not necessary Saturday following detailed review of the imagery gathered over the last two days. The Mission Management Team declared the shuttles Thermal Protection System is cleared for reentry. A routine final inspection focusing on the wing leading edges is planned for late in the mission.

Station managers also decided to add a 360-degree visual inspection of the stations starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) during the second spacewalk on Sunday. The SARJ has shown increased friction for the past month and a half. Though the increase is not constant and averages less than a tenth of an amp, managers decided to add the inspection because the spacewalkers will be near the joint.

During the spacewalk, astronauts will remove the multi-layer insulation covers on the joint to better see the swing bolts beneath and document their inspection with photographs.

Harmony will be relocated to the front of the Destiny laboratory after the shuttle departs. It will provide the docking ports for laboratory modules from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that are to arrive late this year and early next year. Outfitting of the stations newest module will continue throughout the mission.

Space Shuttle Discovery and the STS-120 crew arrived at the International Space Station at 8:40 a.m. EDT, delivering a new module and crew member to the orbital outpost.

The STS-120 astronauts and the station’s Expedition 16 crew will conduct pressure and leak checks before the hatches between the two spacecraft open about 10:30 a.m. After the crews greet each other, they will quickly begin joint operations.

One of the first major tasks is the station crew rotation. STS-120 Mission Specialist Daniel Tani will switch places with Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson, who will be wrapping up a four-month tour of duty as an Expedition crew member. Tani is scheduled to stay on the station until he returns to Earth with STS-122 later this year.

Tani will officially become a member of Expedition 16 when his custom-made seat liner is swapped out with Anderson’s in the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station.

Also, preparations will begin today for the first of five scheduled STS-120 spacewalks. It is set to kick off at 6:28 a.m. Friday.

The seven-member crew of STS-120 on board Space Shuttle Discovery is ready for Thursday’s rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station.

The STS-120 crew members completed Wednesday’s scheduled inspections of Space Shuttle Discovery’s heat shield before noon EDT. They used Discovery’s robotic arm and an attached boom extension to check the spacecraft’s underside, nose cap and leading edges of the wings as well as hard to reach shuttle surfaces.

The inspections are performed to check if any damage occurred to the heat shield during the climb to orbit that began when Discovery lifted off Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Over the next few days, engineers and flight controllers will analyze the data collected by the STS-120 crew.

Throughout the day, the crew prepared for Thursday’s arrival at the International Space Station. The day’s activities included the extension of the shuttle’s docking ring and the check out of tools they will use to rendezvous and link up with the station. Docking is scheduled to occur at 8:33 a.m. Thursday.

Earlier Wednesday, the STS-120 crew checked out spacesuits to be used during the mission’s five scheduled spacewalks at the space station. One of the major objectives of the spacewalks is the temporary installation of the station’s newest component, the Node 2 module, also known as Harmony. In addition, the crew will relocate the station’s P6 truss and solar arrays.

STS-120 is also delivering a new crew member to the station.

The STS-120 crew is busy during its first day in orbit, inspecting Space Shuttle Discovery’s heat shield and preparing for Thursday’s arrival at the International Space Station.

Crew members started the heat shield inspections at 6:39 a.m. EDT. They are using the 50-foot-long Orbiter Boom Sensor System, attached to Discovery’s robotic arm, to check the spacecraft’s nose cap and leading edges of the wings. The inspections are slated to wrap up around noon.

The inspections are being conducted to see if any damage occurred to the heat shield during the climb to orbit that began when Discovery lifted off Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Over the next few days, engineers and flight controllers will analyze the data collected by the STS-120 crew.

The preparations for Thursday’s activities include the extension of the shuttle’s docking ring and the check out of tools they will use to rendezvous and link up with the station. Discovery and its crew will arrive at the station at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

The check out of spacesuits is also on today’s schedule. The STS-120 crew will use the spacesuits during the mission’s five scheduled spacewalks at the space station. One of the major objectives of the spacewalks is the temporary installation of the station’s newest component, the Node 2 module, also known as Harmony. In addition, the crew will relocate the station’s P6 truss and solar arrays.

STS-120 is also delivering a new crew member to the station.

By Marc S. Posner
SOAR Magazine

Discovery Blasts Off:

Space Shuttle Discovery soared off it’s Florida launch pad on Tuesday, October 23, 2007, beginning STS-120, which will deliver the Harmony module to the International Space Station. The mission marks the first time two women have commanded space missions at the same time. NASA photo.

The space shuttle Discovery maximized it’s first launch opportunity to soar off its Florida launch pad and reach orbit this morning, further diminishing the glass ceiling as — for the first time ever — two women are commanding space missions at the same time.

Pam Melroy leads the STS-120 crew. On Friday, Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson assumed leadership of the International Space Station, the first female to hold that post. Melroy, who has flown two missions as a shuttle pilot, is the second woman to command a shuttle mission.

Discovery, on a mission to deliver the Harmony module to ISS, is scheduled to arrive at the orbiting outpost on Thursday.

Tuesday morning’s launch came at 11:38 a.m. EDT, on time despite concerns about ice formation on the external tank and early fears that the good weather might not hold long enough.

“Three… two… one… and liftoff of space shuttle Discovery carrying the seven STS-120 astronauts! The shuttle has cleared the launch tower, beginning its mission to bring Harmony to the International Space Station,” came the call from NASA’s launch commentator.

Joining Commander Melroy on STS-120 are Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson, Doug Wheelock, Daniel Tani and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency. Tani will remain aboard the station and return with the STS-122 crew, which is targeted to launch Dec. 6. Current Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson will return to Earth on Discovery after nearly five months on the station.

During the 14-day mission to the International Space Station, Discovery’s crew will add the Node 2 module to the expanding station. Node 2, known as Harmony, will provide attachment points for European and Japanese laboratory modules to be installed later this year and early in 2008, respectively.

The Harmony module will be the first expansion of the living and working space on the station since 2001.

The Discovery crew also will move the station’s Port 6 segment of the station’s backbone, or truss, and its solar arrays to a permanent position at the very end of the left side of the truss. The flight will include five spacewalks.

The 14-day mission’s five spacewalks are comprised of four by shuttle crew members and one by the station’s Expedition 16 crew. Discovery is expected to complete its mission and return home to the Kennedy Space Center at 4:47 a.m. EST on November 6.