Table of Contents

STS-96 Mission Overview

International Space Station (ISS)

The International Space Station is now visible in the night sky of Canada and can also be seen from most parts of the rest of the world. The birth of that new star on our horizon is the result of an unprecedented international collaboration effort on the most ambitious engineering project ever undertaken: the International Space Station (ISS). Construction of this new wonder of science and technology, located 400 kilometers above the Earth, began in November 1998 with the launch of the Russian module Zarya ("sunrise" in Russian). The assembly of the ISS building blocks was initiated in December 1998 when Zarya and the American module Unity were successfully joined in space creating a "true" orbiting Space Station. It will take approximately 45 NASA space shuttle missions as well as Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets to complete the entire project by 2004. When fully assembled, the ISS will weigh an estimated 450 tons.

Space Shuttle Discovery on a previous launch. Discovery is named after one of the two ships that were used by British explorer James Cook in the 1770s during voyages in the South Pacific that led to the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands.

On May 27, 1999 at 6:48 EDT, Space Shuttle Discovery was launched from the Kennedy Space Center carrying an international crew of seven astronauts. On their third day of flight, the crew of STS-96 made history when the space shuttle successfully completed rendezvous and docked for the first time with the new Space Station. Discovery and the crew led by Commander Kent Rominger spent five days linked to the Station. CSA astronaut Julie Payette became the first Canadian to go on board the International Space Station. This mission, also referred to as International Space Station assembly mission 2A.1* , is defined as a logistics and resupply mission to outfit the International Space Station for future flights and occupants.

*2A.1 is a shorthand way of describing the launch site (the "A" is for American, referring to the shuttle launching from Kennedy Space Center) and the flight's placement in the Station assembly sequence. This flight was added between the originally-planned second (2A) and third (3A) American launches, and is therefore referred to as 2A.1.

Overview of the mission

Successful rendezvous and space shuttle docking with the International Space Station on the third day of the flight was essential to this mission. Once Discovery was safely joined to the Station, the crew began activities such as the hand-over of equipment and supplies needed for the interior as well as the exterior of the Station, similar to the moving in and furnishing of a new home or building.

Examples of these materials include mufflers for the interior of Zarya (to reduce the noise levels of the ventilation system), stowage racks, communication equipment, computer and printer equipment, electrical units (spare), cables, tools, medical and sanitary equipment, cameras, clothing for the first astronauts who will be living in the Station as well as two cranes (one U.S. built crane and parts of a Russian crane). These activities are an important step in the construction of the Station as the modules have to be launched literally as empty shells due to weight limitations. This mission brought vital items needed for upcoming assembly flights. 

Equipment required for the exterior of the Station was installed to its outside walls during a space walk (or EVA, for extravehicular activity) on the fourth day of the mission. The six-hour space walk, performed by Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry, resulted in the transfer and installation of tools as well as two cranes from the shuttle cargo bay to the exterior of Zarya and Unity. Julie Payette was essential for this critical day of the mission since she had been mandated to be the “intravehicular” (inside the shuttle) operator for her colleagues. As the space walk “choreographer or maestro”, Julie had to perform a number of tasks before, during, and after the space walk. For example, she helped prepare the interior of the shuttle for the space walkers' suit-up, ensured all the needed tools were ready, performed a number of checks and verifications of the suits, and wished them “good luck” as she closed the hatch.

Even after the space walkers were back aboard the shuttle and all the space walk related activities were completed, Julie’s day was far from over. Indeed, she then had to get in the command “seat” of the Canadarm to execute, using a camera installed at the tip of the robotic arm, an inspection of the condition of the various space vision target dots installed on the exterior walls of the Station. The space vision system, created in Canada, uses a system of cameras and targets to provide reference points on the location and orientation of objects in space. The system becomes the eyes of the astronaut when robotics operations are not visible by the human eye. The report on the condition of those targets will be needed by the crew of the next assembly flight for mission preparations.

Every construction project has its challenges and hazards. Julie Payette and her Russian crewmate Valery Tokarev had been assigned what could be called the first “maintenance” task of the Station. On the fifth day of their journey, they opened up panels in the floor of Zarya to test and change components of the solar battery system that are supplying electrical power to the Station. Those components are called Battery Current Integrator Units and are referred to as MIRTs (which is a Russian acronym). These small, cellular phone-sized units are part of a system that indicates the level of charge for each of Zarya's six batteries and, in turn, dictate when the onboard charging system believes the batteries to be fully charged thereby tapering off the supply of power. Once the change of batteries has been completed, panels of the floor were closed and the crew was able to continue with the transfer of supplies in Zarya.

The next step in the construction of the ISS will be the launch of the Russian Service Module that will provide early living quarters. The joining in space of the Station with this new component will be performed in what is called an “automatic” mode programmed before departure from Earth. Due to the powerful impact caused by that well-awaited “meeting” in space of the Station and the new module, all the new equipment and supplies brought and installed by Julie and her crewmembers (weighing roughly 5,000 pounds or 2,300 kilograms) had to be carefully secured in position using velcro straps to ensure all remained in place after the contact.

Once all transfer activities were completed, Julie (as part of her “Stow master” responsibility) documented the exact location of each object to allow the ISS team here on Earth to collect, analyse and calculate (weight, etc,...) the various data needed to plan for a successful automatic docking of the Service Module.

Spacehab and the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC). STS-96 was the first flight of the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) and was a SPACEHAB payload. It was used to carry the unpressurized materials to be installed to the exterior walls of the Space Station. Only the space walkers were able to access the ICC (it was not accessible from inside the shuttle).

The mission also carried secondary payloads such as the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC), the Student Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite for Heuristic International Networking Experiment (STARSHINE), the Shuttle Vibration Forces (SVF) experiment and the Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring (IVHM) technology demonstration. STARSHINE is a school experiment, a small "disco-ball"-like satellite which students around the world are able to see in the sky at dusk and dawn for educational projects and calculations involved with orbital mechanics and aerospace. The set of sensors called the Shuttle Vibration Forces experiment recorded the vibrations experienced by the shuttle and its cargoes. New sensors called Vehicle Health Monitoring System also record the performance of various onboard space shuttle systems and may enhance the safety and efficiency of future shuttle flights.

Julie Payette's flight came back to Earth on June 6, 1999 at 2:03 a.m. EDT. CSA astronauts Marc Garneau and Chris Hadfield will visit the International Space Station in 2000 and 2001. Dr. Garneau's mission will bring the first U.S. solar power capabilities to the ISS by transporting the solar arrays, batteries and radiators to the Station. History will be made again with Colonel Hadfield's visit to the ISS, as he will become the first Canadian ever to go on a space walk. His task will be to attach the new Canadian space robotic arm (the Space Station Remote Manipulator System) to the Station.

The mission marked the 26th flight of Space Shuttle Discovery, and the 94th mission flown since the start of the Space Shuttle program in April of 1981. Mission Specialist Julie Payette became the eighth CSA astronaut to fly in the weightless environment of space and her mission marked the ninth mission with a Canadian on board (CSA astronaut Marc Garneau flew in space on two occasions). Another CSA astronaut, Chris Hadfield, was directly involved during the entire ten-day STS-96 mission as Lead CAPCOM (CAPsule COMmunicator), which means that he was in direct voice communication link with the orbiting astronauts.