STS-121

**STS-121**
Organization	NASA-Office of Space Flight (United States)
Mission type	Human Crew
Launch date	July 4, 2006
Launch vehicle	Space Shuttle
Launch site	Cape Canaveral, United States
COSPAR ID	2006-028A
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Experiments	Here
Alternate Names	29251
Additional Information	Here
Data Collection	Here
Payload Mass Up	13281.18 kg
Payload Mass Down	11140 kg
Orbiter	Discovery
Lift Off Mass	2,056,295.45 kg
Orbiter Weight at Liftoff	121,364.09 kg
Orbiter Weight at Landing	102,597.73 kg
Landed	9:14 a.m. EDT, concrete runway 15, Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Orbits of Earth	202
Orbital Altitude	Approximately 185 nautical miles

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Crew

Commander: Steven W. Lindsey
Pilot: Mark E. Kelly
- Mission Specialist 1: Piers J. Sellers
- Mission Specialist 2: Michael E. Fossum
- Mission Specialist 3: Lisa M. Nowak
- Mission Specialist 4: Stephanie D. Wilson

ISS/Mir Crew Transport

- Thomas Reiter, European Space Agency - up only

Mission

STS 121 is an American shuttle craft that was launched from Cape Canaveral at 18:38 UT on 04 July 2006, carrying seven astronauts to the International Space Station, ISS. It was the first flight after the fleet was grounded a year ago to make safety-related modifications to the external, cryogenic fuel tank. This time the take-off was nominal with no significant thermal shield degradation. It carried 12 tonnes of food, fuel, and equipment to the ISS. It docked with the ISS at 14:52 UT on 06 July 2006. During the 12-day mission, the astronauts tested new equipment and procedures aimed at increasing shuttle safety. They deployed the ISS robotic arm, with its attached camera, to examine the exterior of the shuttle for damage; none of significance was noticed. Two of the astronauts did a 6.5-hour spacewalk to test the capability of the 30-meter robotic arm to repair any damage to the shuttle's exterior. The crew also carried out 21 biological and technical experiments on-board. STS 121 landed back in Cape Canaveral on 17 July, at 13:14 UT, leaving behind at the ISS the ESA astronaut to spend several months at the station.

EVA

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) conducted by Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum during three spacewalks for a total of 21 hours, 29 minutes. EVA 1, 7 hours, 31 minutes; Sellers and Fossum installed a blade blocker in the zenith interface umbilical assembly to protect the power, data, and video cable, then rerouted the cable through the IUA so the mobile transporter rail car could be moved into position on the truss. In addition, they tested the capability of the space shuttle's robotic arm and its 50-foot extension - the orbiter boom sensor system - to act as a platform for spacewalkers making repairs. EVA 2, 6 hours, 47 minutes; Sellers and Fossum replaced the nadir-side trailing umbilical system (TUS) to restore the mobile transporter rail car to full operation and delivered a spare pump module for the ISS cooling system. EVA 3, 7 hours, 11 minutes; Sellers and Fossum tested techniques to inspect and repair damage to an orbiter's heat shield, including test of a repair material known as NOAX (non-oxide adhesive experimental), a pre-ceramic polymer sealant containing carbon-silicon carbide powder.

Payload

ISS Assembly Flight ULF1.1; second Return-to-Flight mission; Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module carrying the Minus Eighty-Degrees Centigrade Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI); Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC); Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier (LMC)

Mission patch: