STS-130


STS-130 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. 's primary payloads were the Tranquility module and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center, providing a 360-degree view around the station. Endeavour launched at 04:14 EST on February 8, 2010, and landed at 22:22 EST on February 21, 2010, on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.

Crew

Crew seat assignments

Mission payload

STS-130 carried Tranquility and the Cupola to the International Space Station. Tranquility was manufactured at the Thales Alenia Space factory in Turin, Italy, and transported by aircraft to Florida. It arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Space Station Processing Facility on May 21, 2009. It is also known as Node 3, and was named by a NASA poll as Tranquility.

Shuttle processing

was moved from her hangar in the Orbiter Processing Facility 2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building High bay 1 on December 11, 2009. Roll over began at 13:00 EST and was completed 1 hour and 5 minutes later at 14:05 EST.
Endeavour moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39A. The process started at 04:13 EST on January 6, 2010. Before rolling out to the launch pad, engineers at Kennedy Space Center had an extended preparation time to get Endeavour ready to move to the launch pad due to the unusually cold weather. The was completed at 10:37 EST. The trip took 6hrs 24min.

Launch attempts

The first launch attempt was scheduled for 04:39:00 EST February 7, 2010, with forecasters originally predicting a 70% chance of favorable launch weather conditions at the Kennedy Space Center, but that degraded to 30% hours before the planned launch due to low clouds. The launch was scrubbed. The second launch attempt was successful at 04:14:08 EST February 8, 2010.

Mission milestones

The mission marked:
  • 161st NASA crewed space flight
  • 130th shuttle mission since STS-1
  • 24th flight of Endeavour
  • 32nd shuttle mission to the ISS
  • 10th flight of Endeavour to the ISS
  • 1st shuttle flight in 2010
  • 105th post-Challenger mission
  • 17th post-Columbia mission
  • 34th night launch of a shuttle, 21st night launch from launch pad 39A

    Mission timeline

February 8 (Flight Day 1: Launch)

Endeavour launched successfully at 4:14:08 EST. When Endeavour lifted off, the space station was traveling about 212 miles over western Romania. Once in orbit the crew opened the payload bay doors, activated the radiators and deployed the Ku band antenna. Nick Patrick and Kay Hire then proceeded to activate, did a check out of the Shuttle Robotic Arm and then conducted a survey of the payload bay. The crew was also successful in down-linking imagery and video of the external tank to the ground.

February 9 (Flight Day 2)

Most of the crew day was spent on conducting the standard inspection of the thermal protection system. All six of the crew members participated at one point during this task. Once the inspection process had moved to the port wing, astronauts Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick began working on checking out and preparing the spacesuits that will be used during the mission's three spacewalks. Once the survey of the TPS was complete, Stephen Robinson and Kay Hire, with Bob Behnken joining once his spacesuit tasks were complete, began checking out and preparing the tools that will be used during the rendezvous with the International Space Station. These tools include a hand-held LIDAR gun used for finding out the closing rate of the shuttle and distance from the ISS, the Orbiter Docking System which is the part of the shuttle that connects to the space station and a centerline camera in the ODS to assist the commander George Zamka during docking.

February 10 (Flight Day 3: Rendezvous with ISS)

During the first part of the crew's workday, they performed a series of burns to catch up and dock with the International Space Station. Once the shuttle was below the ISS, commander George Zamka began what is known as the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver. During the maneuver, ISS commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer Oleg Kotov took photos of the shuttle's thermal protection system. Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the ISS at 5:26 UTC. After completing leak checks the hatches between both vehicles were opened at 6:26 UTC. The joint Expedition 22/STS-130 crew conducted the standard welcome ceremony and then conducted their safety brief. Once that was complete commander George Zamka, Bob Behnken and Steve Robinson began transferring the spacesuits Behnken and Nick Patrick will use for the three spacewalks. Also during this time Nick Patrick and ISS flight engineer T.J. Creamer picked up the OBSS boom and handed it off to the Space Shuttle robot arm using the station's SSRMS or Canadarm2. The shuttle arm was operated by Kay Hire and pilot Terry Virts.

February 11 (Flight Day 4: Spacewalk 1 preparation)

Flight day 4 saw Nick Patrick and Bob Behnken get all the tools they need ready for their spacewalk on flight day 5. While Patrick and Behnken were getting the tools ready, commander George Zamka and ISS flight engineer Soichi Noguchi swapped out the Hard Upper Torso on Bob Behnken's suit, since the original HUT had developed a problem with a wire harness and was not powering the Wireless Video System or the heaters in his gloves and boots. Once the swap was complete, Zamka and Noguchi tested the suit successfully. The crew also performed a number of transfer related activities during the morning of their work day. After a joint meal together, the crew of STS-130 and ISS commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer T.J. Creamer conducted a PAO event with television stations in Sacramento, California, Mobile, Alabama and a radio station in St. Louis, Missouri. Once the PAO event was finished, the joint crews had some off duty time for the rest of the day. Before the two crews went to bed they conducted a spacewalk procedures review, then got Nick Patrick and Bob Behnken into the Quest Airlock. Behnken and Patrick spent the night there at 10.2 psi instead of at the station's 14.6 psi, breathing pure oxygen for an hour before and after their sleep period in order to prevent decompression sickness.

February 12 (Flight Day 5: Spacewalk 1)

Flight day 5 saw astronauts Nick Patrick and Bob Behnken perform the mission's first spacewalk, which began on time at 02:17 UTC. Their first task was to move the payload bay of Endeavour and prepare and release launch locks on the Tranquility module and Cupola. Once Behnken and Patrick were clear of its path, the Tranquility module was moved to the port side of the Unity node using the space station's robot arm. Before Tranquility was installed the spacewalkers removed Dextre's ORU platform and secured it to one of the truss segments to function as a backup for a platform to be installed on STS-132. Once the new module was in place, the spacewalkers proceeded to connect temporary heater and data cables between Unity and Tranquility. Behnken and Patrick were ahead of the timeline so they were also able to complete some get-ahead tasks. The spacewalk was completed six and a half hours later, on Friday, 08:49 UTC. After the spacewalk, other crew members completed transfer-related tasks. The transfers are now over halfway complete.

February 13 (Flight Day 6: Spacewalk 2 preparation)

On flight day 6 members of the joint crew opened the hatches to the new Tranquility module for the first time. STS-130 crew-members George Zamka, Terry Virts, Stephen Robinson and Kay Hire all helped in the initial outfitting of the node. During the initial outfitting, Terry Virts and Kay Hire prepared the Cupola for its move from the end of Node 3. While that was going on spacewalkers Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick re-sized and repaired Bob Behnken's original suit for use by Nick Patrick, after a small problem with a fan was discovered. Once that task was complete the pair began getting their tools ready for the second of three spacewalks. Throughout the day there were 2 PAO events, the first was a special event conducted by Capcom Mike Massimino. Massimino asked Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick questions he received through his Twitter account. Later in the day Kay Hire and Terry Virts took questions from the Associated Press, CBS News and Reuters. At the end of the day the whole crew conducted another EVA procedures review in preparation for EVA2.

February 14 (Flight Day 7: Spacewalk 2)

The second of three spacewalks was completed on flight day 7. Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick were able to complete all their planned tasks in 5 hours and 54 minutes. The tasks included installing ammonia coolant loops, thermal blankets to protect the ammonia hoses, outfitting the Earth-facing port of Tranquility for the Cupola, install handrails and a non-propulsive vent valve. During the connection of one of the ammonia hoses, a small amount of ammonia leaked out of a quick disconnect valve and floated towards Nick Patrick. Procedures called for a "bake-out" while Patrick worked during the sunlit portion of the orbit, and a contamination test in the airlock. The bake-out happened at the end of the spacewalk. While the spacewalk was happening, Terry Virts and Kay Hire along with ISS commander Jeff Williams, Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer, continued outfitting the Tranquility module. This included setting up the ventilation system, connecting electrical and computer cables and configuring racks. They confirmed lights and computers were on in the node once the ammonia cooling system had been activated. The crew also received word the mission had been extended by one day in the morning.