STS-103
From The Space Library
 | |
| Organization | NASA-Office of Space Flight (United States) |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Human Crew,Resupply/Refurbishment/Repair |
| Launch date | December 20, 1999 |
| Launch vehicle | Space Shuttle |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, United States |
| COSPAR ID | 1999-069A |
| Experiments | Here |
| Alternate Names | 25996 |
| Additional Information | Here |
| Data Collection | Here |
| Payload Mass Up | 5991.04 kg |
STS 103 was an American shuttle spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral at 00:50 UT, after nine cancellations of earlier attempts during the month. The main mission was to repair the inoperational Hubble spacecraft: replace all six gyroscopes, including the four recently failed ones (that engendered total shut down since 13 November 1999), replace its computer system, replace the voltage and temperature controls on its battery packs, and install an additional onboard data recorder of 12 gigabyte capacity. Replacement of the degraded exterior insulation on Hubble entailed a few hours of EVAs by the crew. This was the third repair mission to Hubble; the earlier ones were during December 1993 (STS 61), and February 1997 (STS 82). (The shuttle also carried a disk containing posters that were autographed by hundreds of thousands of elementary school children.) It landed back at Cape Canaveral on 28 December at 00:01 UT, after successfully completing the eight day mission..
Mission patch:
