STS-109

STS-109
	The Hubble Space Telescope in Columbia's payload bay towards the end of the mission
Names	Space Transportation System-109
Mission type	Hubble servicing
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2002-010A
SATCAT no.	27388
Mission duration	10 days, 22 hours, 11 minutes, 09 seconds
Distance travelled	6,300,000 kilometres (3,900,000 mi)
Orbits completed	165
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Space Shuttle Columbia
Launch mass	116,989 kg (257,917 lb)
Landing mass	100,564 kg (221,706 lb)
Crew
Crew size	7
Members	Scott D. Altman; Duane G. Carey; John M. Grunsfeld; Nancy J. Currie; Richard M. Linnehan; James H. Newman; Michael J. Massimino;
Start of mission
Launch date	1 March 2002 11:22:02 UTC
Launch site	Kennedy, LC-39A
End of mission
Landing date	12 March 2002 09:33:10 UTC
Landing site	Kennedy, SLF Runway 33
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	486 km (302 mi)
Apogee altitude	578 km (359 mi)
Inclination	28.5 degrees
Period	95.3 minutes
	; (L-R): Michael J. Massimino, Richard M. Linnehan, Duane G. Carey, Scott D. Altman, Nancy J. Currie, John M. Grunsfeld and James H. Newman. Space Shuttle program ← STS-108 STS-110 →

STS-109 (SM3B) was a Space Shuttle mission that launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 1 March 2002. It was the 108th mission of the Space Shuttle program,^[1] the 27th flight of the orbiter Columbia^[1] and the fourth servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope.^[2] It was also the last successful mission of the orbiter Columbia before the ill-fated STS-107 mission, which culminated in the Columbia disaster.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was placed in orbit during mission STS-31 on 25 April 1990.^[3] Initially designed to operate for 15 years, plans for periodic service and refurbishment were incorporated into its mission from the start.^[4] After the successful completion of the second planned service mission (SM2) by the crew of STS-82 in February 1997, three of the telescope's six gyroscopes failed. NASA decided to split the third planned service mission into two parts, SM3A and SM3B.^[5] A fifth and final servicing mission, STS-125 (SM4) launched on 11 May 2009.^[6] The work performed during SM4 kept HST in operation through 2021.^[7]

Crew


Position	Astronaut
Commander	Scott D. Altman Third spaceflight
Pilot	Duane G. Carey Only spaceflight
Mission Specialist 1	John M. Grunsfeld Fourth spaceflight
Mission Specialist 2 Flight Engineer	Nancy J. Currie Fourth and last spaceflight
Mission Specialist 3	Richard M. Linnehan Third spaceflight
Mission Specialist 4	James H. Newman Fourth and last spaceflight
Mission Specialist 5	Michael J. Massimino First spaceflight

Crew seat assignments

Seat^[8]	Launch	Landing	Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
1	Altman
2	Carey
3	Grunsfeld	Linnehan
4	Currie-Gregg
5	Linnehan	Grunsfeld
6	Newman
7	Massimino

Spacewalks

EVA	Team	Start – UTC	End – UTC	Duration
1	Grunsfeld Linnehan	4 March 2002, 06:37	4 March 2002, 13:38	7:01
2	Newman Massimino	5 March 2002, 06:40	5 March 2002, 13:56	7:16
3	Grunsfeld Linnehan	6 March 2002, 08:28	6 March 2002, 15:16	6:48
4	Newman Massimino	7 March 2002, 09:00	7 March 2002, 16:18^[9]^[10]	7:18
5	Grunsfeld Linnehan	8 March 2002, 08:46	8 March 2002, 16:18^[9]^[11]	7:32

Mission highlights

Hubble Space Telescope after servicing by the crew of STS-109

The purpose of STS-109 was to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). It was Columbia's first flight following an extensive two and a half year modification period (its most recent mission being STS-93). During the mission the crew installed a new science instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), new rigid solar arrays (SA3), a new Power Control Unit (PCU) and an experimental cryocooler for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). Columbia also reboosted HST to a higher orbit.

The STS-109 astronauts performed a total of five spacewalks in five consecutive days to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. The spacewalkers received assistance from their crewmates inside Columbia. Currie operated the Shuttle's robot arm while Altman was her backup. Carey and Altman documented the EVAs with video and still images.

Accomplishments of the spacewalks included the installation of new solar arrays, a new camera, a new Power Control Unit, a Reaction Wheel Assembly and an experimental cooling system for the NICMOS unit. STS-109 accumulated a total of 35 hours, 55 minutes of EVA time. Following STS-109, a total of 18 spacewalks had been conducted during four Space Shuttle missions to service Hubble (the others being STS-61, STS-82, STS-103 and STS-125) for a total of 129 hours, 10 minutes by 14 different astronauts.

Columbia made its twenty-seventh and last successful landing at Kennedy Space Center, as on its next mission, STS-107, it disintegrated on re-entry, killing all aboard.

STS-109 is considered a night launch, as sunrise was at 6:47 am, and Columbia launched at 6:22 am EST, 25 minutes before sunrise.

Attempt	Planned	Result	Turnaround	Reason	Decision point	Weather go (%)	Notes
1	21 Feb 2002, 10:22:00 am	Scrubbed	—				Mission replanning.^[12]
2	28 Feb 2002, 6:48:00 am	Scrubbed	6 days 20 hours 26 minutes	Technical	21 Feb 2002, 10:00 am	60%	Wrong bearings installed on Columbia's main landing gear.^[13]
3	1 Mar 2002, 6:22:02 am	Success	0 days 23 hours 34 minutes				^[14]

References

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

^ ^a ^b "Mission STS-109". NASA. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
^ "The Hubble Space Telescope: SM3B". NASA. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
^ "The Hubble Space Telescope: Deployment". NASA. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
^ "Servicing History and Long-Term Plans" (PDF). NASA. June 1993. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
^ "The Hubble Space Telescope: SM3A". NASA. Archived from the original on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
^ "STS-125: Final Shuttle Mission to Hubble Space Telescope". NASA. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
^ "The Hubble Space Telescope: SM4". NASA. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
^ "STS-109". Spacefacts. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
^ ^a ^b "STS-109 Mission Archives". NASA. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
^ "STS-109 Status Report #14". NASA. 7 March 2002. Archived from the original on 6 April 2002.
^ "STS-109 Status Report #16". NASA. 8 March 2002. Archived from the original on 6 June 2002.
^ "Launch officially slips to Feb. 28". CBS News. 14 January 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
^ "Cold front threatens shuttle launch". CBS News. 26 February 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2009.
^ "Columbia rockets into space". CBS News. 1 March 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2009.

External links

Status reports – Detailed NASA status reports for each day of the mission.
NASA mission summary Archived 18 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine
STS-109 reentry pictures
ESA/Hubble mission summary
STS-109 Video Highlights Archived 11 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine

[ksc1-1] "Mission STS-109". NASA. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2009.

[sm3b-2] "The Hubble Space Telescope: SM3B". NASA. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.

[deploy-3] "The Hubble Space Telescope: Deployment". NASA. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.

[plans-4] "Servicing History and Long-Term Plans" (PDF). NASA. June 1993. Retrieved 1 March 2009.

[sm3a-5] "The Hubble Space Telescope: SM3A". NASA. Archived from the original on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.

[sts125sm4-6] "STS-125: Final Shuttle Mission to Hubble Space Telescope". NASA. Retrieved 1 March 2009.

[sm4-7] "The Hubble Space Telescope: SM4". NASA. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2009.

[8] "STS-109". Spacefacts. Retrieved 20 April 2024.

[mission-9] "STS-109 Mission Archives". NASA. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2009.

[10] "STS-109 Status Report #14". NASA. 7 March 2002. Archived from the original on 6 April 2002.

[11] "STS-109 Status Report #16". NASA. 8 March 2002. Archived from the original on 6 June 2002.

[12] "Launch officially slips to Feb. 28". CBS News. 14 January 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2009.

[13] "Cold front threatens shuttle launch". CBS News. 26 February 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2009.

[14] "Columbia rockets into space". CBS News. 1 March 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2009.

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v t e Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102)
Flights	STS-1 STS-2 STS-3 STS-4 STS-5 STS-9 STS-61-C STS-28 STS-32 STS-35 STS-40 STS-50 STS-52 STS-55 STS-58 STS-62 STS-65 STS-73 STS-75 STS-78 STS-80 STS-83 STS-94 STS-87 STS-90 STS-93 STS-109 STS-107
Status	Out of service: Columbia disaster (destroyed) 1 February 2003 (STS-107)
Related	Columbia Accident Investigation Board STS-61-E STS-61-H STS-144 Columbia Memorial Space Center Columbia Hills (Mars) "Countdown" (1982 song) Hail Columbia (1982 documentary) Columbia: The Tragic Loss (2004 documentary)

v t e Hubble Space Telescope
Current instruments	Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)
Previous instruments	Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR) Faint Object Camera (FOC) Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS/HRS) High Speed Photometer (HSP) Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC) Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2)
Space Shuttle missions	Launch: STS-31 (1990, Discovery) Servicing: STS-61 (1993, Endeavour) STS-82 (1997, Discovery) STS-103 (1999, Discovery) STS-109 (2002, Columbia) STS-125 (2009, Atlantis)
Special fields and images	Pillars of Creation (1995) Hubble Deep Field (1995) Hubble Deep Field South (1998) Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (2003–04) Extended Groth Strip (2004–05) SWEEPS (2006) Mystic Mountain (2010) Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (2012) Zooming in on the Andromeda Galaxy (2015) Hubble Legacy Field (2019) Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey Anniversary images List of deep fields
Related	Great Observatories program Space Telescope Science Institute Goddard Space Flight Center NASA Edwin Hubble Hubble (2010 documentary) Hubble Origins Probe
Category Commons

v t e ← 2001 Orbital launches in 2002 2003 →
January	USA-164 INSAT-3C
February	Tsubasa, DASH, VEP-3 HESSI Iridium 90, Iridium 91, Iridium 94, Iridium 95, Iridium 96 EchoStar VII Intelsat 904 Kosmos 2387
March	Envisat STS-109 TDRS-9 GRACE Progress M1-8 Shenzhou 3 JCSAT-8, Astra 3A Intelsat 903
April	Kosmos 2388 STS-110 (ITS S0) NSS-7 Soyuz TM-34
May	SPOT-5, Idefix Aqua DirecTV-5 Feng Yun 1D, Hai Yang 1A Ofek-5 Kosmos 2389
June	Intelsat 905 STS-111 (Leonardo MPLM) Ekspress A1R Galaxy 3C Iridium 97, Iridium 98 NOAA-17 Progress M-46
July	CONTOUR Stellat 5, N-STAR c Kosmos 2390, Kosmos 2391 Kosmos 2392
August	Hot Bird 6 EchoStar VIII Atlantic Bird 1, MSG-1
September	Intelsat 906 USERS, Kodama METSAT Tsinghua 2 Hispasat 1D Progress M1-9 Nadezhda 7
October	STS-112 (ITS S1) Foton-M No.1 INTEGRAL Zi Yuan 2B Soyuz TMA-1
November	STS-113 (ITS P1, MEPSI 1A, MEPSI 1B) Astra 1K AlSAT-1, Mozhayets 3, Rubin-3
December	TDRS-10 Hot Bird 7, Stentor, MFD-A, MFD-B ADEOS II, Kanta Kun, FedSat, µ-LabSat 1 (RITE 1, RITE 2) NSS-6 TrailBlazer-2001 STA, Saudisat 1C, LatinSat A, LatinSat B, UniSat 2, Rubin 2 Kosmos 2393 Kosmos 2394, Kosmos 2395, Kosmos 2396 Shenzhou 4 Nimiq 2
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).