The STS-103 crew pose for a group portrait with their families and loved ones on the runway at Patrick Air Force Base. They are preparing to board an airplane that will return them to their home base at the Johnson Space Center in Houston following the successful completion of their mission. From left to right, the crew members are Mission Specialists John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), Claude Nicollier of Switzerland, Jean-François Clervoy of France, and Steven L. Smith; Pilot Scott J. Kelly; and Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr. Discovery landed in darkness the previous evening, Dec. 27, on runway 33 at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility at 7:00:47 p.m. EST. This was the first time that a Shuttle crew spent the Christmas holiday in space. The STS-103 mission supplied the Hubble Space Telescope with six new gyroscopes, six new voltage/temperature improvement kits, a new onboard computer, a new solid state recorder and new data transmitter, and a new fine guidance sensor along with new insulation on parts of the orbiting telescope. This was the 96th flight in the Space Shuttle program and the 27th for the orbiter Discovery KSC-99pp1520

Similar

JSC2016e105227 (10/14/2015) --- All three members of Expedition 49 to the International Space Station; NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough (left), along with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov (center) and Andrey Borisenko (right). jsc2016e105227

Expedition 33 Press Conference. NASA public domain image colelction.

Jared Stadler, 560th Flying Training Squadron pilot

Group including dance band members on board the SS Mariposa in Sydney Harbour (4623127207)

JSC2009-E-049922 (February 2009) --- NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams (right), Expedition 21 flight engineer and Expedition 22 commander; cosmonaut Maxim Suraev (center), Expedition 21/22 flight engineer; and NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer, Expedition 22/23 flight engineer, take a break from training in Star City, Russia to pose for a portrait. Photo credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center jsc2009e049922

The STS-103 crew pose for a group portrait with their families and loved ones on the runway at Patrick Air Force Base. They are preparing to board an airplane that will return them to their home base at the Johnson Space Center in Houston following the successful completion of their mission. From left to right, the crew members are Mission Specialists John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), Claude Nicollier of Switzerland, Jean-François Clervoy of France, and Steven L. Smith; Pilot Scott J. Kelly; and Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr. Discovery landed in darkness the previous evening, Dec. 27, on runway 33 at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility at 7:00:47 p.m. EST. This was the first time that a Shuttle crew spent the Christmas holiday in space. The STS-103 mission supplied the Hubble Space Telescope with six new gyroscopes, six new voltage/temperature improvement kits, a new onboard computer, a new solid state recorder and new data transmitter, and a new fine guidance sensor along with new insulation on parts of the orbiting telescope. This was the 96th flight in the Space Shuttle program and the 27th for the orbiter Discovery KSC-99pp1520

description

Summary

The STS-103 crew pose for a group portrait with their families and loved ones on the runway at Patrick Air Force Base. They are preparing to board an airplane that will return them to their home base at the Johnson Space Center in Houston following the successful completion of their mission. From left to right, the crew members are Mission Specialists John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), Claude Nicollier of Switzerland, Jean-François Clervoy of France, and Steven L. Smith; Pilot Scott J. Kelly; and Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr. Discovery landed in darkness the previous evening, Dec. 27, on runway 33 at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility at 7:00:47 p.m. EST. This was the first time that a Shuttle crew spent the Christmas holiday in space. The STS-103 mission supplied the Hubble Space Telescope with six new gyroscopes, six new voltage/temperature improvement kits, a new onboard computer, a new solid state recorder and new data transmitter, and a new fine guidance sensor along with new insulation on parts of the orbiting telescope. This was the 96th flight in the Space Shuttle program and the 27th for the orbiter Discovery

Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.