STS-117 Fact Sheet

By Cliff Lethbridge

STS-117 – Atlantis

118th Space Shuttle Mission

28th Flight of Atlantis

Crew:

Frederick Sturckow, Commander

Lee Archambault, Pilot

James Reilly, Mission Specialist

Patrick Forrester, Mission Specialist

Steven Swanson, Mission Specialist

John Olivas, Mission Specialist

Clayton Anderson, Embarking to International Space Station

Sunita Williams, Returning from International Space Station

Orbiter Preparations:

Two to Orbiter Processing Facility – September 21, 2006

Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Building – February 7, 2007

Rollout to Launch Pad 39A – February 15, 2007

Rollback to Vehicle Assembly Building – March 4, 2007

Rollout to Launch Pad 39A – May 15, 2007

Launch:

June 8, 2007 – 7:38:04 p.m. EDT. Launch was originally set for February, 2007 but was postponed after a severe hailstorm on February 26 damaged the Shuttle’s external tank and heat resistant tiles. A decision was made to repair the Shuttle in the Vehicle Assembly Building, resulting in a lengthy delay to the launch. Launch on June 8 occurred on time with no delays.

Landing:

June 22, 2007 – 3:49:38 p.m. EDT at Runway 22, Edwards Air Force Base, California. Rollout time was 70 seconds. Mission duration was 13 days, 20 hours, 12 minutes. Landing was diverted to Edwards due to bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center.

Mission Summary:

There were four spacewalks during the mission in support of construction and maintenance activities at the International Space Station (ISS). The first spacewalk lasted 6 hours, 15 minutes. Astronauts Reilly and Olivas attached bolts, cables and connectors to begin activation of the S3/S4 Truss segment and ready it for deployment of its solar arrays.

The second spacewalk lasted 7 hours, 16 minutes. Astronauts Forrester and Swanson removed all of the launch locks holding a ten-foot wide solar alpha rotary joint in place. The third spacewalk lasted 7 hours, 58 minutes. Astronauts Olivas and Reilly pinned down and stapled a thermal blanket on the Shuttle’s orbital maneuvering system pod which had peeled up during launch. They also installed a hydrogen vent valve of a new oxygen generation system on the Destiny laboratory and helped retract the P6 Truss.

The fourth spacewalk lasted 6 hours, 29 minutes. Astronauts Forrester and Swanson retrieved a television camera from a stowage platform attached to the Quest airlock and installed it on the S3 Truss. They also installed a computer network cable on the Unity node, opened the hydrogen vent valve on the Destiny lab and tethered two orbital debris shield panels on the ISS service module.