Launch from Cape Canaveral (
KSC);
landing at Cape Canaveral (
KSC);
ISS 1 E Columbus. The launch was oringinally planned
for December 06, 2007. Due to malfunctions of fuel sensors several delays were
required.
The primary objective of STS-122 was to deliver the European
Columbus science laboratory, built by the European Space Agency (
ESA), to the station. STS-122 also carried the Solar
Monitoring Observatory (SOLAR), the European Technology Exposure Facility (
EuTEF), and a new Nitrogen Tank Assembly, mounted in
the cargo bay of an
ICC-Lite payload rack, as well as a spare Drive Lock
Assembly (DLA) sent to orbit in support of possible repairs to the starboard
Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (
SARJ) which is malfunctioning. Several items were
returned with Atlantis: A malfunctioning Control Moment Gyroscope (
CMG)
that was swapped out with a new one during
STS-118, and the empty Nitrogen Tank Assembly will be placed
in the orbiter's payload bay, along with a trundle bearing from the Starboard
SARJ
that was removed during an
EVA
performed by
expedition
16.
Following a two day solo flight Atlantis docked to the
ISS on February 09, 2008. Common work with the
ISS
expedition 16 was
performed. Léopold
Eyharts was transferred to the
ISS and Daniel
Tani
to the STS-122 crew for returning to the Earth.
The first
EVA
by Rex
Walheim and Stanley
Love
occured on February 11, 2008 (7h 58m) was delayed 24 hours. They prepared the
Columbus module for installation on Harmony. Originallly it was planned that
Rex
Walheim and Hans
Schlegel had to do this
EVA,
but Hans
Schlegel became ill (propably he suffered on the space
adaption syndrome), so Stanley
Love
had to do the first
EVA.
They installed the Power Data Grapple Fixture on Columbus, which allowed the
space station’s robotic arm to grab the module and move it from the
shuttle’s payload bay to Harmony at the end of this spacewalk. Preparing
work to remove the Nitrogen Tank Assembly, a part of the station’s thermal
control system, from the P1 truss. The tasks took more time than planned. At
time they were one full hour behind the timeline.
The second
EVA
was performed by Rex
Walheim and Hans
Schlegel on February 13, 2008 (6h 45m) to remove the old
NTA and
temporarily store it on an equipment cart. They then installed the new one. The
old
NTA
was transferred to the shuttle's payload bay for return home.
The third
and final
EVA by Rex
Walheim and Stanley
Love
was conducted on February 15, 2008 (7h 25m) to install two payloads on
Columbus' exterior: SOLAR, an observatory to monitor the sun; and the European
Technology Exposure Facility (
EuTEF) that will carry eight different experiments
requiring exposure to the space environment. Move of a failed control moment
gyroscope from its storage location on the station to the shuttle's payload bay
for return to Earth.
