Factfile: Discovery shuttle

2005-07-13 14:09

Cape Canaveral - The following is a fact file for the STS-114 mission of the space shuttle Discovery.

Planned launch:

19:51 GMT on Wednesday, July 13 from launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre near Cape Canaveral.

Launch window:

5 minutes.

Shuttle:

Discovery, one of the three remaining space shuttles in the fleet, along with Atlantis and Endeavour.

Mission duration:

11 days, 19 hours and 32 minutes.

Planned landing:

15:05 GMT on Monday, July 25 at the Kennedy Space Centre, or, in case of bad weather, at White Sands, New Mexico.

Emergency landing sites:

Zaragoza, Spain; Moron, Spain; and Istres, France.

Orbital insertion altitude:

225.94 kilometres.

Altitude for rendezvous with ISS:

351 kilometres.

Mission:

Evaluation of new safety techniques and delivery of supplies to the International Space Station.

Spacewalks:

Three, each lasting six and a half hours.

Weight of shuttle at launch, including external tank and rocket boosters:

2 051 tons.

Weight of the orbiter and payload at launch:

121.1 tons.

Weight of the orbiter at landing:

102.9 tonnes

Payload:

Raffaello, a multi-purpose module containing laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments and supplies.

Crew:

Commander: Eileen Collins

Pilot: James Kelly

Mission specialists:

Soichi Noguchi, Stephen Robinson, Andrew Thomas, Wendy Lawrence and Charles Camarda.

- AFP