Sunrise Launch of STS-102
The Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-102 mission, clears launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center as the sun peers over the Atlantic Ocean on March 8, 2001. STS-102's primary cargo was the Leonardo, the Italian Space Agency built Multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM). The Leonardo MPLM was the first of three such pressurized modules that served as the International Space Station's (ISS's) moving vans, carrying laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments, and supplies to and from the Station aboard the Space Shuttle. The cylindrical module was approximately 21-feet long and 15- feet in diameter, weighing almost 4.5 tons. It could carry up to 10 tons of cargo in 16 standard Space Station equipment racks.
On February 24, 2011, Leonardo was launched on STS-133 and installed on the ISS as the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) on March 1, 2011.
STS-102 was also the first flight involved with Expedition Crew rotation. The Expedition Two crew was delivered to the station while Expedition One was returned home to Earth.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: 0302483
Date: March 8, 2003
Sunrise Launch of STS-102
The Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-102 mission, clears launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center as the sun peers over the Atlantic Ocean on March 8, 2001. STS-102's primary cargo was the Leonardo, the Italian Space Agency built Multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM). The Leonardo MPLM was the first of three such pressurized modules that served as the International Space Station's (ISS's) moving vans, carrying laboratory racks filled with equipment, experiments, and supplies to and from the Station aboard the Space Shuttle. The cylindrical module was approximately 21-feet long and 15- feet in diameter, weighing almost 4.5 tons. It could carry up to 10 tons of cargo in 16 standard Space Station equipment racks.
On February 24, 2011, Leonardo was launched on STS-133 and installed on the ISS as the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) on March 1, 2011.
STS-102 was also the first flight involved with Expedition Crew rotation. The Expedition Two crew was delivered to the station while Expedition One was returned home to Earth.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: 0302483
Date: March 8, 2003