STS-124 Fact Sheet

By Cliff Lethbridge

STS-124 – Discovery

123rd Space Shuttle Mission

35th Flight of Discovery

Crew:

Mark Kelly, Commander

Ken Ham, Pilot

Karen Nyberg, Mission Specialist

Ron Garan, Mission Specialist

Mike Fossum, Mission Specialist

Akihiko Hoshide, Mission Specialist

Gregory Chamitoff, Mission Specialist, Embarking to International Space Station

Garrett Reisman, Flight Engineer, Returning from International Space Station

Orbiter Preparations:

Tow to Orbiter Processing Facility – November 8, 2007

Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Building – April 26, 2008

Rollout to Launch Pad 39A – May 3, 2008

Launch:

May 31, 2008 – 5:02 p.m. EDT. Launch occurred on time with no delays. Examination of the launch pad following the launch found extensive damage to the east wall of the north flame trench. Repairs were made in the weeks following launch.

Landing:

June 14, 2008 – 11:15 a.m. EDT at Runway 15, Kennedy Space Center. Mission duration was 13 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes, 7 seconds.

Mission Summary:

The main payload was the Japanese KIBO pressurized module. There were three spacewalks during the mission. The first spacewalk occurred on June 3 and lasted 6 hours, 48 minutes. Astronauts Fossum and Garan disconnected cables and removed covers from the KIBO module. They also validated techniques to clean debris from the International Space Station (ISS) solar array rotary joint.

The second spacewalk of the mission was conducted on June 5 and lasted 7 hours, 11 minutes. Astronauts Fossum and Garan continued outfitting the exterior of KIBO. The third spacewalk of the mission was conducted on June 8 and lasted 6 hours, 33 minutes. Astronauts Fossum and Garan replaced a nitrogen tank on the ISS starboard truss and continued outfitting KIBO.