Shuttle Discovery STS-133 Mission Crew

Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA Astronauts and STS-133 mission crew members, from left, Mission Specialists Nicole Stott, Michael Barratt, Pilot Eric Boe, Commander Steve Lindsey, Mission Specialists Alvin Drew, and Steve Bowen pose for a photograph in front of the space shuttle Discovery after they landed, Wednesday, March 9, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., completing Discovery's 39th and final flight. Since 1984, Discovery flew 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited Earth 5,830 times and traveled 148,221,675 miles.

Space Shuttle Discovery Lands Safely

Photo credit: NASA

The Space Shuttle Discovery Landed safely at 11.57 EST (16.57 GMT) on Wednesday 9th March 2011 on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center, marking the end of a historic journey after twelve days in space. The weather was good and the NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was waiting to meet the crew of the very last mission of Shuttle Discovery.

Shuttle Discovery entry speed

The orbital velocity of Discovery was Mach 25, which is over 8,500 miles a second. The crew had to turn the wings in a series of rolling and banking manoeuvres to dissipate as much of the speed as possible.

This enabled the spacecraft to enter the Earth’s atmosphere at an angle of 40 degrees that would not place excessive demands on the thermal heat shield. The temperature on the outside of Discovery was as high as 3,000 degrees, which is higher than the melting point of steel but well within the design limits.

The flight control surfaces became active once Space Shuttle Discovery reached a speed of less than Mach 3.5 which is about 2,500 miles an hour.

Breaking the sound barrier

Sonic booms announced the arrival of Space Shuttle Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center and as the spacecraft made the approach it was travelling at over 600 miles an hour and the rate of descent was over 280 feet per second.

A perfect landing

The landing speed when Space Shuttle Discovery touched down on the runway was measured by the onboard computers as 224 miles per hour. NASA confirmed the offficial mission time as 12 days, 19 hours, 3 minutes and 53 seconds.

Future plans for Space Shuttle Discovery

The Shuttle Discovery will undergo a series of tests before being ending its long service as a museum exhibit.

Space Shuttle Discovery Makes Final Return to Earth Wednesday March 9th 2011

Discovery final mission (Photo Credit NASA)

The Space shuttle Discovery is expected to return to Earth for the final time on Wednesday, March 9th at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:57 am EST.

An alternative landing window has also been scheduled for 1:34 pm EST depending on weather conditions in Florida.  The backup landing site is also ready at Edwards Air Force Base.

Successful final mission

Discovery will be completing a 13 day mission to the International Space Station after the original schedule was expended by one day. Shuttle

Discovery undocked from the International Space Station at 6 am CST on the 7th March 2011 after eight days, 16 hours and 46 minutes.

Station Commander Scott Kelly praised the cooperation among crew members of both spacecraft. Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey said the team effort had allowed them “to accomplish well over 100 percent of our objectives.”

Discovery was the first space shuttle to dock with the International Space Station, during the STS-96 mission in 1999.

Final landing

When Discovery lands it will have spent 365 days in space and travelled more than 148 million miles during 39 flights. After touchdown, the Discovery crew will have routine physical examinations and meet their families.

Discovery Crew Prepare for Second Spacewalk

STS-133 and Expedition 26 crew pose for a photo in the PMM
 (Image credit: NASA TV)

At 6:17 p.m. EST on Wednesday 02 Mar 2011 the International Space Station Commander Scott Kelly became the first crew member to enter the newly-installed Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) that was successfully delivered by the Space Shuttle Discovey on its very last misison.

The Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM)

The Permanent Multipurpose Module was secured to the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station’s Unity node and will provide 2,472 cubic feet of much needed pressurized storage space and more room for scientific experiments.

Second space walk

Following the first successful space walk of the mission by Steve Bowen, Mission Specialists Steve Bowen and Alvin Drew are preparing for the second spacewalk of the mission by “camping out” in the Quest airlock. Steve Bowen replaced Tim Kopra as Mission Specialist 2 following an unfortunate bicycle injury on January  15th.  As Steve Bowen last flew on Atlantis in May 2010 as part of the STS-132 crew, his part in the STS-133 mission makes him the first astronaut ever to fly on consecutive missions.

Shuttle Discovery Docks With Space Station for Last Time

The Space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station at 2:14 p.m. EST Saturday, STS-133 Commander Steve Lindsey reversed Discovery into pressurized mating adapter #2 on the International Space Station’s Harmony node.

Docked over Australia

The two spacecraft were flying about 220 miles above western Australia at the time they docked.

Discovery was the first space shuttle to dock to a space station when it docked to Russia’s Mir station on mission STS-91 on June 4, 1998. Discovery also was the first shuttle to dock to the International Space Station on STS-96 on May 29, 1999. This was Discovery’s 13th and final docking to the space station.

Discovery crew board Space Ststion 

The shuttle and station crews opened hatches at 4:16 p.m. Discovery’s crew of Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe, and Mission Specialists Alvin Drew, Steve Bowen, Mike Barratt and Nicole Stott joined Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri, Dmitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli, and Cady Coleman

Space Shuttle Discovery Launched on Final Mission

The Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Launch Pad 39A in perfect conditions at 4:50 p.m. EST, after a last minute drama at 5 minutes to launch when the hold went within 15 seconds of aborting due to a problem on the range that was resolved just in time!

Shuttle Mission STS-133

Mission STS-133 is to deliver essential equipment to the International Space Station.  The six astronauts are led by Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Eric Boe, who are in the two forward seats on the flight deck with Mission Specialists Alvin Drew and Nicole Stott sitting behind them. On the lower level or middeck are astronauts Steve Bowen and Michael Barratt.

Final Flight of Discovery

Following the STS-133 mission, Discovery will be the first of the shuttle fleet to retire. 
STS-133 Commander Steve Lindsey said “Besides the excitement of completing the International Space Station and all the things we do, I hope people get a sense of the history of what the shuttle is and what we’ve done and what’s ending. Because they’ll probably never see anything like it flying again.”

Shuttle Discovery landing

Shuttle Discovery is returning to Earth on March 7, 2011, with a target landing time of 12:44 p.m. EST, at the Kennedy Space Center, when it will have completed eleven days in space.