STS-119

Occurred 16 years ago

STS-119 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station which was flown by space shuttle Discovery during March 2009. It delivered and assembled the fourth starboard Integrated Truss Segment, and the fourth set of solar arrays and batteries to the station.

Space Shuttle

Discovery

mission duration

12 days, 19 hours, 29 minutes, 33 second

Launch

March 15, 2009

Landing

March 28, 2009

Eight out of the ten crewmembers on the International Space Station pose for a group photo following a joint news conference in the Harmony node while Space Shuttle Discovery remains docked with the station. They are floating in the space station.

S119-E-007794 (24 March 2009) — Eight out of the ten crewmembers on the International Space Station pose for a group photo following a joint news conference in the Harmony node while Space Shuttle Discovery remains docked with the station. From the left are NASA astronauts Tony Antonelli, STS-119 pilot; Lee Archambault, STS-119 commander; and Joseph Acaba, STS-119 mission specialist. From the left (middle row) are Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut (JAXA) Koichi Wakata, Expedition 18 flight engineer; and NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, STS-119 mission specialist. From the left (back row) are astronauts Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and John Phillips, all STS-119 mission specialists. Magnus, who joined the station’s Expedition 18 crew in November 2008, is being replaced by Wakata, who arrived at the station with the STS-119 crew.

NASA

Mission Facts

Mission: STS-119 (125th space shuttle flight)
Orbiter: Discovery
Primary Payload: 28th station flight (15A), S6 Truss Segment and U.S. Solar Arrays
Launched: March 15, 2009
Launch Time: 7:43 p.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39A
Mission Duration: 12 days, 19 hours, 29 minutes, 33 seconds
Landing Date: March 28, 2009
Landing Time: 3:14 p.m. EDT
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

Crew:

Lee Archambault, Commander

Tony Antonelli, Pilot

Richard Arnold, Mission Specialist

Joseph Acaba, Mission Specialist

John Phillips, Mission Specialist

Steve Swanson, Mission Specialist

Kiochi Wakata, Mission Specialist, Embarking to International Space Station

Sandra Magnus, Flight Engineer, Returning from International Space Station

Powering Up the International Space Station

In a blaze of clouds and smoke, space shuttle Discovery lifted off into a dusky night sky from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:43 p.m. EDT March 15. Attaining orbit within minutes, the STS-119 mission to bring full power to the International Space Station was well under way.

Commander Lee Archambault led the crew of seven, which included Pilot Tony Antonelli, Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold, John Phillips and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.

A few earlier launch delays didn’t dampen the astronauts’ spirits, as they quickly went to work taking precautionary images of the shuttle’s thermal protective tiles and preparing to dock with the space station two days later.

The 13-day mission included three spacewalks to install the S6 truss and starboard-side U.S. solar arrays. The shuttle crew also delivered and helped install a replacement distillation assembly centrifuge to the station’s water recycling system. With both the solar arrays and the recycling system up and running, enables the orbiting laboratory to double its crew size to six.

A highlight to the mission was a call from U.S. President Barack Obama to the shuttle and station crew members gathered in the Harmony module. The president, members of Congress and students asked questions about the mission and what life is like aboard the station.

With the complex mission behind them, it was time to say farewell to the Expedition 18-19 crew members. After undocking, the astronauts performed one last inspection of Discovery’s thermal protection system and began their journey home to Earth.

Wakata remained aboard the station, replacing Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus. Magnus returned to Earth with the STS-119 crew after more than four months of living and working in space.

Although the first landing opportunity at Kennedy was waved off because of high winds, Discovery glided to a perfect touchdown at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility at 3:14 p.m. EDT March 28, successfully completing NASA’s STS-119 mission.