STS-130

Occurred 15 years ago

Endeavour delivered a third connecting module – the Tranquility node – to the station and a seven-windowed cupola to be used as a control room for robotics. The mission featured three spacewalks. STS-130 was the 32nd shuttle mission to the station.

Space Shuttle

Endeavour

mission duration

13 days, 18 hours, 6 minutes, 24 seconds

Launch

Feb. 8, 2010

Landing

Feb. 21, 2010

Attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits, these six astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-130 crew portrait in orange spacesuits with earth and mission patch in the background.

Attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits, these six astronauts took a break from training to pose for the STS-130 crew portrait. Seated are astronauts George Zamka (right), commander; and Terry Virts, pilot. From the left (standing) are astronaut Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Kathryn Hire and Stephen Robinson, all mission specialists.

NASA

Mission Facts

Mission: Delivered the Tranquility node and cupola to the International Space Station

Primary Payload: 32nd station flight (20A), Tranquility Node 3, Cupolas
Space Shuttle: Endeavour
Launch Pad: 39A
Launched: Feb. 8, 2010 at 4:14 a.m. EST
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landing: Feb. 21, 2010 at 10:20 p.m. EST
Mission Duration: 13 days, 18 hours, 6 minutes, 24 seconds
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Miles Traveled: 5.7 million

Crew:

George Zamka, Commander

Terry Virts, Pilot

Nicholas Patrick, Mission Specialist

Robert Behnken, Mission Specialist

Kathryn Hire, Mission Specialist

Stephen Robinson, Mission Specialist

Mission Highlights

Space shuttle Endeavour majestically lifted off into an early morning sky from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:14 a.m. EST Feb. 8, 2010, beginning the STS-130 mission.

The six STS-130 astronauts aboard Endeavour were Commander George Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts, and Mission Specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Patrick Behnken and Nicholas Patrick.

Their mission: to deliver and install the final U.S. module, named Tranquility, to the International Space Station.

Tranquility was the name chosen from thousands of suggestions submitted by participants on NASA’s Web site, “Help Name Node 3.”

They also took up the cupola, a mini control tower attached to the Tranquility node that provides an incredible view of Earth from seven windows.

About two days after launch, Endeavour met up with the space station, and the hatches were opened as the orbiting outpost flew over the northwest coast of Australia. With greetings accomplished, crew members began transferring cargo from Endeavour’s payload bay.

After the last three spacewalks and the addition of the last components of the U.S. section, the shuttle and station crews began an extra day of joint docked operations to complete the relocation of the station’s regenerative life support system into the new Tranquility module.

The mission was highlighted with a congratulatory phone call from U.S. President Barack Obama, accompanied at the White House by several middle school students from across the country.

With a difficult but successful mission passing into history, the Endeavour crew closed the hatches between the two spacecraft and prepared for their journey back to Earth.

The previously forecasted showers remained offshore and the crew was given the “go” for deorbit burn and subsequent landing at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility.

Endeavour touched down on Runway 15, Feb. 21 at 10:20 p.m. EST, completing more than 5.7 million miles and almost 14 days in space.