STS-109
From The Space Library
 | |
| Organization | NASA-Office of Space Flight (United States) |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Resupply/Refurbishment/Repair |
| Launch date | March 1, 2002 |
| Launch vehicle | Space Shuttle |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, United States |
| COSPAR ID | 2002-010A |
| Experiments | Here |
| Alternate Names | 27388 |
| Additional Information | Here |
| Data Collection | Here |
| Payload Mass Up | 12516.42 kg |
STS 109 is an American shuttle spacecraft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 11:22 UT on 1 March 2002. Its mission was to repair and refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope. During five spacewalks, the crew of seven astronauts installed a new Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), new rigid Solar Arrays (SA3), a new Power Control Unit (PCU), a new Cryocooler for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS which had remained inoperative since 1999 after an unexpected loss of coolant). The ACS camera replaces the Faint Objects Camera (FOC) which was brought back to Earth. The new solar arrays are 30% smaller than the older ones, but produce 20% more power; the older panels were returned to Earth. STS 109 (3B) is the fourth servicing mission to the HST, after the previous, 3A mission in December 1999. For more details see http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-109/mission-sts-109.html The shuttle landed back at Cape Canaveral at 09:32 UT on 12 March 2002.
Mission patch: 
