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STS-109 Mission Overview

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	Shuttle Columbia returns to space on mission STS-109 to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope!
	LEFT: STS-109 crew (L-R) Michael Massimino, Richard Linnehan, Duane Carey, Scott Altman, Nancy Currie, John Grunsfeld and James Newman. RIGHT: Mission Patch.

Mission profile from NASA Human Spaceflight

108th Shuttle flight (27th for Columbia)

• Columbia To Begin Third Decade in Space
  America's first Space Shuttle, Columbia, will return to orbit fresh from two years of work that have left it safer and more capable than ever before. A maintenance and upgrade period completed last year installed a new "glass cockpit" in Columbia, increased its cargo capacity, strengthened its crew cabin and enhanced the protection of its cooling system from orbital debris. Columbia is currently set to launch Feb. 28 at 6:48 a.m. EST on mission STS-109. The mission is dedicated to maintaining and enhancing the Hubble Space Telescope, the fourth such flight since the telescope's launch in 1990.

  Diverse Shuttle Flights to Set Records, Continue Challenges in 2002
  Fresh on the heels of making space history in 2001 by completing the first phase of International Space Station assembly in orbit, the space shuttle will continue a string of space firsts during six missions in 2002. Shuttles will add more than 45 metric tons (50 tons) of additional components to the station. They also will service the Hubble Space Telescope and conduct an extended research mission.

  NASA will break a record set only last year for the most space walks ever conducted in a single year. The year will also be marked by Columbia's return to space on the first non-station shuttle flight in more than two years.




Current Shuttle Status    Liftoff Status

Note: Mission Journals will now be broken up into three sections for faster downloading. Updates are presented with newest dates on top, with Part 3 covering undocking to landing; Part 2 covering the core flight time from liftoff to undocking; and Part 1 covering all Preflight activities (including launch scrubs, if any).

Schedule if Columbia had launched on original date:

Launch: 28 February 2002 6:48AM EST
Launch Window: 1 hour, 4 mins;
Grapple: 2 March 2002 4:02AM EST
Deploy: 8 March 2002 5:01AM EST
Landing: 11 March 2002 5:01AM EST


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