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+ STS-124 Press Kit (PDF 7 CONTENTS Section Page STS-124 MISSION OVERVIEW................................................................................................ 1 TIMELINE OVERVIEW.............................................................................................................. 11 MISSION PROFILE................................................................................................................... 15 MISSION PRIORITIES............................................................................................................. 17 MISSION PERSONNEL............................................................................................................. 19 STS-124 DISCOVERY CREW ................................................................................................... 21 PAYLOAD OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 31 KIBO’S MAIN EXPERIMENT MODULE AND ROBOTIC ARM FLY TO THE STATION ................................... 31 THE STS-124 MISSION WILL BRING KIBO INTO A FULLY OPERATIONAL STATE................................... 32 KIBO ASSEMBLY MISSION PATCH....................................................................................................... 32 WHY ARE THREE FLIGHTS REQUIRED TO DELIVER THE KIBO ELEMENTS TO THE SPACE STATION? ..... 33 KIBO-RELATED MISSIONS WILL CONTINUE......................................................................................... 34 JAPANESE PRESSURIZED MODULE (JPM) OVERVIEW........................................................................... 34 KIBO-SPECIFIC STRUCTURES............................................................................................................. 37 PAYLOAD RACKS ABOARD KIBO.......................................................................................................... 45 KIBO MISSION CONTROL CENTER ....................................................................................................... 49 JAXA FLIGHT CONTROL TEAM .............................................................................................................. 50 JEM ENGINEERING TEAM ..................................................................................................................... 51 TSUKUBA SPACE CENTER.................................................................................................................... 52 SPACE STATION OPERATION FACILITY................................................................................................ 53 RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING .................................................................................................. 57 UNDOCKING, SEPARATION AND DEPARTURE....................................................................................... 59 SPACEWALKS ......................................................................................................................... 61 EVA-1 .................................................................................................................................................. 64 EVA-2 .................................................................................................................................................. 68 EVA-3.................................................................................................................................................. 69 MAY 2008 CONTENTS i Section Page EXPERIMENTS......................................................................................................................... 71 SHORT-DURATION U.S. INTEGRATED RESEARCH TO BE COMPLETED DURING STS-124/1J (4) ............ 71 SAMPLES RETURNING FROM ISS ON STS-124..................................................................................... 71 EXPERIMENTS AND HARDWARE TO BE DELIVERED TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION .................... 73 EXTERNAL FUEL TANK ET-128 FOR SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION STS-124 .............................. 75 SHUTTLE REFERENCE DATA .................................................................................................... 79 LAUNCH AND LANDING ........................................................................................................... 93 LAUNCH............................................................................................................................................... 93 ABORT-TO-ORBIT................................................................................................................................ 93 TRANSATLANTIC ABORT LANDING ...................................................................................................... 93 RETURN-TO-LAUNCH-SITE................................................................................................................... 93 ABORT ONCE AROUND......................................................................................................................... 93 LANDING ............................................................................................................................................. 93 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................... 95 MEDIA ASSISTANCE ............................................................................................................... 109 PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACTS.................................................................................................. 111 ii CONTENTS MAY 2008 STS-124 MISSION OVERVIEW Astronauts Greg Chamitoff (left), Expedition 17 flight engineer; JAXA’s Akihiko Hoshide, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Karen Nyberg, all STS‐124 mission specialists; Mark Kelly and Ken Ham, STS‐124 commander and pilot, respectively, pose for a group photo before a training session in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at JSC. The third space shuttle mission of the year will the Harmony connecting node, opposite the deliver the Kibo pressurized science laboratory European Columbus science lab that was to the International Space Station (ISS), further installed in February. expanding the Japanese segment of the orbital outpost. This is Kelly’s third flight into space, having served as pilot on STS‐108 and STS‐121. He will Led by Navy Cmdr. Mark Kelly, 44, space be joined on Discovery by pilot and Navy shuttle Discovery is set to blast off at Cmdr. Ken Ham, 43. Mission specialists 5:02 p.m. EDT on May 31 and arrive at the include Karen Nyberg (NYE‐berg), 38, Air space station two days later. The shuttle Force Col. Ron Garan (GAH‐run), 46, Air Force and station crews will install the 37‐foot, Reserve Col. Mike Fossum (FAH‐sum), 50, and 32,000‐pound Kibo science lab, or JPM, for Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency Japanese Pressurized Module, to the left side of (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide MAY 2008 MISSION OVERVIEW 1 (Ah‐kee‐HEE‐koh Hoh‐SHEE‐day), 39. Fossum spacecraft seatliners. With that exchange, flew as a mission specialist with Kelly on Chamitoff will become a part of the STS‐121, and joins Kelly as the only crew Expedition 17 space station crew and Reisman members with previous spaceflight experience. will become part of Discovery’s crew. Chamitoff will join expedition commander and Greg Chamitoff (SHAM‐eh‐tawf), 45, will Russian Air Force Lt. Col. Sergei Volkov replace Garrett Reisman (REEZ‐muhn), 40, who (SIR‐gay VOLE‐koff), 35, and Flight Engineer arrived on the station in March and is Oleg Kononenko (AH‐leg Ko‐no‐NEHN‐ko), completing three months as a station flight 43, who were launched to the complex in the engineer. Reisman will return to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA‐12 spacecraft on April 8 from the Discovery. Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A few hours after Discovery’s docking on the Chamitoff will return to Earth in the fall on third day of the flight, Chamitoff and Reisman shuttle mission STS‐126, while Volkov and will exchange custom‐made Russian Soyuz Kononenko will return in the Soyuz in October. Astronauts Greg Chamitoff (left), Expedition 17 flight engineer; JAXA Akihiko Hoshide and Mike Fossum, both STS‐124 mission specialists, participate in a training session in one of the full‐scale trainers in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at JSC. 2 MISSION OVERVIEW MAY 2008 This graphic depicts the location of the STS‐124 payload hardware. Kibo is 14 feet longer than Columbus and 9 feet materials production, biotechnology and longer than the U.S. Destiny laboratory. It joins communications. the first component of the Japanese segment of the station, the Experiment Logistics Module‐ The new pressurized module also is equipped Pressurized Section (ELM‐PS), that was with its own robotic manipulator system and an launched on the last shuttle flight, STS‐123, in airlock. The Japanese robotic device will be March. The logistics module will be robotically comprised of two separate six‐jointed arms, the detached from the top port of Harmony during main arm that measures 32.5 feet and can the mission and reattached to the top port of handle up to seven tons of hardware, and a Kibo to serve as a storage depot. small fine arm, a 6.2 foot extension that will be used for delicate payload operations. The small The ELM‐PS was launched with eight racks of fine arm will be launched later on a new science gear and control equipment that will Japanese resupply ship for the station called the be transferred to the JPM for installation. In all, H‐II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). Kibo can house up to 23 racks of equipment and experiments that will involve research in The airlock ultimately
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